KICKING BACK IN... KENT

WHERE? Ashford, Kent

WHY? To experience great British R&R the old-school way

HOW MUCH? Standard rooms at Eastwell Manor start at £75 per person, per night; eastwellmanor.co.uk

Once nicknamed the Garden of England, Kent has reimagined itself as the hipster corner of the UK. Margate is a 35-minute drive from this patch of the country, where you’ll find more moustachioed men sipping pale ale and girls in green spectacles than in Shoreditch. The Sportsman in Seasalter, meanwhile, is the place to eat, and beloved by the world’s top chefs, but you need to forward-plan and book months in advance for a weekend sitting. If you can wangle a table, do the Faversham to Seasalter walk first to build up your appetite. Faversham is an adorable old Kentish town with great vintage shops down by the old docks. The walk will take around two hours, mostly through wheat fields and along stretches of powdery white beaches, so you will at least feel like you’re in Montauk, and not 30 minutes from Maidstone.

Champneys has taken over one of the UK’S most romantic stately homes and turned Eastwell Manor into Kent’s hottest destination. It has all the Champneys touches you’d expect – endless fitness classes, superlative treatments and a pool that looks like the Sultan of Brunei’s – but it’s the hotel that really dazzles. A wood-panelled dining room with a roaring fire means guests can dress up and pig out after a day of spa and R&R, while rooms are grand, with views of the grounds. More good news? It’s all waiting for you just 40 minutes out of London on the speedy Eurostar line.