Tewin Bury Farm Hotel

Just outside Welwyn Garden City, a five-minute drive from the A1, Tewin Bury Farm is not the hardest hotel in the UK to reach . Yet once you're here, such is the extent the land it occupies, and the self-sufficient nature of its complex of buildings, that you can feel quite removed from the rest of the world quite easily. In part still a working family farm, it's a very comfortable place to stay: the service, food and rooms are all top-notch and it’s family-owned and -run, with a homespun, independent quality that it’s impossible not to like. The charmingly named (and not at all musical) Vaughan Williams runs the hotel while his brother Ivor runs the farm. Facilities include a bar and restaurant, 10 meeting rooms, 3 wedding venues and lots more on the way – Vaughan is on a mission to create the greenest, most inclusive and best-equipped private hotel in Hertfordshire, and is building a cookery school, a spa and pool and is hoping to add glamping around the farm’s fishing lakes. He has also recently added car-charging points and is refurbishing part of Welwyn North station as a pick-up point in an effort to encourage people to come here by train.

There are 44 rooms in all, with a further seven, more budget-conscious options at The View – the clubhouse of the golf course across the road, which they also own (a footpath connects the two). Most of the rooms are scattered in a variety of what were once farm buildings, and range from the original 8 guest rooms of the original Farmhouse (where you'll find the reception) to 8 bedrooms in nearby Kingsbridge House, close to the fishing lakes,. The house can also be rented exclusively, and there are a couple of lakeside suites that can be taken on a self-catering basis (one of which has its own hot tub).  All the rooms have been refurbished in a timeless style, with oak cabinets and wardrobes and large bathrooms, many of which have separate showers; some make the most of the oak beams of the original buildings, others are more contemporary, but they all come with wifi, tea and coffee-making facilities, water (from their own bore-hole) and biscuits and flatscreen Freeview TVs – and; the best rooms have large two-person baths, robes and slippers and outside patios. They also have 2 ground-level rooms fully kitted out for disabled access and 7 family rooms that can comfortably accommodate a family of four. The food at the hotel’s restaurant – housed in the chicken shed – is excellent, and has 2 AA rosettes to prove it, with a moderately priced seasonal menu that features lovely lamb from the farm, herbs and veg from their garden and most importantly high quality cooking and presentation. Breakfast is served in their new Cow Shed restaurant (where they also serve afternoon tea) and is a full-on buffet affair.

Finally there are any number of footpaths and cycleways to follow, some of them on the adjacent Tewinbury Wildlife Trust reserve, where you can watch abundant birdlife from a hide near the river, which runs right through the farm’s land. You can hire bikes for free from reception if you want spend the day exploring, or just walk up to nearby St Michael’s church or into Tewin village to the pub if you want something less demanding.  Either way it feels a long way from London, despite being only 40 minutes' away by train.