Lucknam Park, Wiltshire

Since the boutique hotel and the "tarted-up inn" invaded the English countryside, the old-fashioned country house hotel has suffered horribly, says Fiona Duncan in the Sunday Telegraph.

Thank goodness, then, for Lucknam Park, one of only a handful of luxury hotels that have kept the flag flying for the old tradition. The house itself is an extended 17th-century mansion surrounded by parkland, with "elegant" bedrooms; Hywel Jones's cooking in the Park Restaurant lives up to its Michelin star; and a brand new spa introduces a surprising but welcome note of modernity.

Lucknam Park (01225 742 777) offers doubles from £265. ·