Short stay: Country Living Lansdown Grove Hotel, Bath, UK

Country Living Lansdown Grove Hotel is not just a hotel, it’s a radical new concept, a way of living. Sat high on one of Bath’s seven hills, the hotel looks down on a UNESCO World Heritage City and over Somerset’s green hills and valleys.

“An escape from the ordinary” is the hotel’s motto. Decor brings to life the style of Country Living, one of Britain’s best selling lifestyle magazines. There are times when guests feel – as they are relaxing in the library, lounge or bar – that they are part of a carefully curated magazine shoot.

The welcome

Reception has become a lounge with a vast rural landscape backdrop that is instantly soothing. The receptionist, sits at a large desk and guests sit too in comfy armchairs. The message is simple, “Relax. Take it easy.”

Set in to the peripheries of the desk, like a museum display case, are fragments of stone from Bath’s Roman Empire glory days, a reminder of the architectural riches…