Hotel Endsleigh, Devon

With interiors guru (and true hotel royalty) Olga Polizzi behind its interiors, Hotel Endsleigh was never going to be anything less than a thing of beauty. It’s the remote location that really makes it stand out, though – whether you're taking a long leisurely bath or having drinks in the sculptured gardens (or, in winter, by a roaring open fire), it’s a place where the outside world seems an awfully long way away.

Monachyle Mhor, Perthshire

Family-run Scottish bolthole Monachyle Mhor quickly went from a small rural enterprise to the lavish boutique hotel it is today. And it did so largely off the back of the praise it's received up and down the country for the excellent locally sourced food it serves up. Located in isolated rural splendour, after a long walk in the rugged Trossachs countryside, the 14 bedrooms, each with their own panoramic view of the loch, are also wonderfully inviting.

The Woodlands, Yorkshire

Tucked away in an idyllic wooded valley just a short hop away from the wild and woolly Whitby coastline, if you can’t decide between rural and coastal, then The Woodlands is the place for you. Each of its five rooms very much has its own identity, so the interior decor flits from French antique furniture teamed with soothing greys, to crisp coastal stripes with chic painted wood pieces. The restaurant (a blend of Scandinavian cool and Scottish hunting lodge) is just a five-minute walk away – but for the ultimate indulgence, stay in bed and order a breakfast hamper to be delivered to your door.

Holbeck Ghyll, Lake District

Park your stress at the door of Lake District retreat Holbeck Ghyll and prepare to embrace the tranquillity, in the form of unrivalled views of Lake Windermere and the surrounding fells and mountains. Suites like The Lodge, The Shieling and Miss. Potter provide every possible permutation of home-from-home that you could hope for – from peaceful, through luxury suite to high-style self catering. Add to that a restaurant in its 10th year of Michelin stardom and its rural retreat credentials are hard to quibble with.

Sanctum on the Green, Berkshire

For stressed out Londoners, rural retreats don’t get much more convenient than Sanctum on the Green. A 40-minute train ride from Central London sees you standing outside this nine-bedroom retreat surrounded by nothing but the sleepy town of Cookham Dean and the rolling fields. Inside, with its colour palette of coffee and gleaming black and crystal-encrusted door handles, the decor is a lavish take on English country glamour, while there’s a serious restaurant and a blacked-out pool and open-air hot tub to lounge by on summer weekend afternoons.

Haven’t found what you were after in our pick of the best rural retreats in the UK? For something grander, check out our favourite country house hotels in England. Or see ELLE escapes’ full collection of places to stay.