Where to Stay: Dreamy Landmark Trust Houses You Must Know About
Sleep in a giant pineapple, dine in high style at James Boswell's ancestral home, stay in a folly with an indoor medieval cold plunge pool, 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, some of the 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.