The Cherry Tree Shepherd's Hut

Raise a glass to hazy lazy holidays and start getaways with a celebratory whisky or gin at Cotswolds Distillery about 15 minutes’ drive away or Hook Norton Brewery, 10 minutes from base. Not much of a drinker? Get buzzed with visits around the British motoring tradition instead. Learn all about the past at the British Motor Museum (30 minutes) and Coventry Transport Museum (50 minutes), then zoom right back to the present by racing over to Silverstone (40 minutes away) for track days, car experiences and – with well-timed stays – some Formula 1 races. For more slow-paced history, there are plenty of stately old houses hereabouts too: moated Broughton Castle is just 10 minutes from the site; spectacular Blenheim Palace – birthplace of Winston Churchill – is half an hour away, and Chastleton House and Farnborough Hall are both within 25 minutes. There are medieval days nearby as well, so jousting fans should look towards Warwick and Kenilworth castles, both less than 45 minutes from base. Of course, one can’t stay in this part of the country and not devote some time to the Bard… The site is 35 minutes from Stratford-upon-Avon, where the shadow of Shakespeare still skulks in his birthplace, in Anne Hathaway’s Cottage and on many a theatre stage. Need more of a city day? Birmingham and Oxford are both within about an hour’s drive.