Where to Stay: Dreamy Landmark Trust Houses You Must Know About
Sleep in a giant pineapple, dine in high style at Queen Anne's summer home, stay in a Gothic Temple with breathtaking mosaic work, and more
When it comes to renting a holiday home, is there a middle ground between a luxury villa that costs multiple mortgage payments and somewhere more value-conscious that leaves you underwhelmed? We at In Hand don’t like to compromise — we want stunning, historic, design-worthy, romantic places that are the stuff of dreams and don’t cost the world. Is that too much to ask?
Not if you book a Landmark Trust property, the knight-on-a-white-horse rescuer of enchanting castles and cottages and towers and stately manors all over the United Kingdom (and a few in Europe and America). Fancy staying in a 17th century folly with its own medieval cold plunge pool? Exploring the endless halls of an Edwin Lutyens Arts and Crafts mansion with its own bowling alley? Gazing down the Dorset coast from the 19th century stone tower where Thomas Hardy courted his first wife? Not a problem. There are over 200 landmarks, each rescued from dereliction because of their outstanding historical or architectural merit, nursed back to life by skilled artisans using traditional craft skills, and given new life as weekend or weeklong boltholes.
In every Landmark, you will find a welcoming tea tray, blue and white Old Chelsea china in the cupboards, a shelf of books about the local area, and a green leather-bound ledger with tips and advice from past guests — where the hidden raspberry bushes are, the prettiest walking paths, and the secret wishing well you absolutely shouldn’t miss. This is slow vacationing at its finest; to that end, there’s no WiFi (there’s the pub down the road for that), but in its place is time to cook, read by an open fire, walk, explore, and simply be present to the glorious world around you. Best of all, most Landmarks can be rented for less than £50 (about $65) per person a night, and by staying there, you are helping the Trust sustain these manmade marvels and keep them alive for generations to come.
I have stayed at Gargunnock House in Scotland four times over the past twenty years. I keep wanting to try other houses, but Gargunnock has been the center of so many happy memories for friends and family that it just keeps pulling us back. Below, a few more destinations on my shortlist that I’m determined to visit, side-by-side with the price per person per night because it really beggars belief that properties so magical can be rented so affordably — another enduring miracle of The Landmark Trust.
Clavell Tower, Dorsetshire // Sleeps 12; from £48 per person per night
One of the most famous landmarks in the area, this 4-story, 4-room tower perched on the Dorset Coast offers 360-degree views of light, weather, and sea. Here is where a young Thomas Hardy courted his first wife; a picture of the tower was even used on the cover of his Wessex Poems. The bedroom on the first floor has a balcony that encircles the entire building, and the cozy kitchen features tall arched windows onto Kimmeridge Bay.
Tixall Gatehouse, Staffordshire // Sleeps 6; from £28 per person per night
How’s this for an opener — for two weeks in 1586, Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned here at Tixall. Although the great house has long since disappeared, the gatehouse still stands, a majestic Elizabethan remnant of Classical style that still woos visitors today. On the first floor, four large rooms and a long gallery with an oriel window at each end are yours to enjoy. Enjoy cocktails at sunset on the rooftop viewing terrace in the shadow of the turret tops (one of which contains bedrooms), the stone balustrades framing an Arcadian landscape in every direction.
Gothic Temple, Buckinghamshire // Sleeps 4, from £53 per person per night
This stirring example of Gothic Revival Picturesque was designed by James Gibbs in 1741; inside, the rooms are all circular, with a dramatic first floor gallery providing an up-close look at the breathtaking heraldic mosaic work. Stone seats on the roof terrace offer an Arcadian view of the 250-acre garden worked on by landscape genius Capability Brown.
For the full post — including 18 more places to stay — and more exclusive travel content with a focus on design and craft, explore In Hand.
Written by Lisa Borgnes Giramonti and Meghan McEwen, IN HAND is part travelogue and part travel ethos — exploring the intersection of design, craft and travel; celebrating people, places and objects.