10 best UK staycations for rest and reset
When Molly Cooper co-founded Curated, the world’s first booking platform powered by tastemakers, she wanted to put the human touch back into travel planning. Here, she shares the best UK staycations with connection and calm at their heart.
When I started the Curated Spaces podcast two years ago, I imagined conversations about paint colours, design details and menus. Instead, what emerged were stories about people rebuilding their lives and creating special places to share with others.
I spoke to founders whose own PTSD led them to open a retreat in Cornwall, so others could experience the healing power of its ancient rainforests. Artists who transformed family homes into community spaces because they believed art should be shared. And a pioneer of Britain’s early organic movement who opened a pub with rooms simply to show that hospitality could do good for both people and planet.
Very quickly, I realised these conversations were never just about spaces. They were about connection and how deeply we all need it. Places where you can step out of the churn of daily life and fill your cup back up. Spaces where you can eat vegetables straight from the kitchen garden, join conversations with friendly locals at the bar, or dive into Britain’s great outdoors come rain or shine. Because real wellness isn’t a smoothie or a supplement routine.
Real wellness is relational. It’s connection to yourself, to others, and to the world around you. And the science supports what we intuitively know: strong social relationships have been shown to increase our likelihood of long-term survival by 50% — a greater predictor of longevity than quitting smoking or maintaining a healthy weight. Connection is not a luxury. It’s biology.
That belief has shaped Curated from day one. What began as a podcast is now a community of curious travellers, soulful spaces and trusted tastemakers who believe in the power of a recommendation from the right person. In a world overflowing with noise and endless choice, the trips that stay with you the longest start with someone saying: “You would love this place.”
And so, this is my guide for anyone looking to reconnect with themselves, the people they love and this magical planet of ours. Here are ten UK staycations to ground and restore you through life’s simplest pleasures.
Spaces To Connect With The People You Love
Restaries
A collection of contemporary retreats in the grounds of a 16th-century Suffolk farm with long feasting tables and pigs a plenty to befriend.
Kip & Nook
Unique and thoughtfully curated hideaways amid North Yorkshire’s panoramas all centred around a lively communal hub called The Workshop.
Spaces To Connect With Your Body
Louma
A rural resort with a great spa, fantastic food and its own vineyard. Head to the wellbeing studio to swim, sauna or try out craniosacral therapy.
Cottage Orné
Dip into wellness with saunas with ice bucket showers, treatment huts, yoga in The Studio and creative workshops in The Workshop.
Spaces To Connect With A New Community
The Bear Inn, Hodnet
A warm reimagining of a village hub, packed full of locals and great food with 12 beautifully designed rooms upstairs.
The Bull Inn, Totnes
An organic, ethical pub with rooms that wears its values with pride. Staying here means being part of a conscious collective.
Spaces To Connect With The Planet
Cove Valley
An Exmoor National Park rewilding project with three luxury cabins designed to bring nature and those who dwell here back to life.
Elmley
Boutique cabin comforts in 3,000 acres of glorious island wilderness. Join a safari, swim in the sea or simply watch night fall over the water meadows.
Spaces To Connect Over The Table
Fowlescombe Farm
A luxurious and intimate farm stay where meals are shared around a communal table complete with open kitchen and produce straight from the vegetable patch.
Hampton Manor
Wander through the kitchen garden to Grace & Savour or join the locals in buzzy Kiln, this midlands hangout is here to feed the curious.
