Escape to the Country: The UK’s Cosiest Autumn Getaways

Although an Indian Summer is currently underway for the UK, according to the meteorological calendar, we are now officially in autumn. For some it may symbolise the beginning of “spooky season”, whilst for others it marks the start of the Christmas countdown, but now is also the ideal time for exploring the UK’s crisp autumnal weather and landscapes, with searches for “autumn cottage” up by 45% over the past month.

Building conservation charity, The Landmark Trust, offers holidays all across the UK in restored historical buildings which offer the perfect backdrop for brisk walks through orange and brown foliage, cosy evenings by the fire and exploring nearby pubs for Sunday roasts. Below, we’ve included a few of our favourite areas with Landmark properties that still have availability for the upcoming autumn months.

Best for autumnal activities: Canons Ashby, Northamptonshire

Canons Ashby is a small village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, with the area’s most notable building being Canons Ashby House, a National Trust property which Landmark Trust own a flat within. Throughout autumn there will be a number of events taking place for those visiting the Canons Ashby gardens. On 28^th and 29^th September, there will be harvest foraging walks, including a basic introduction to foraging for delicious seasonal food such as wild fruits, herbs, mushrooms and plants. And on 9^th October, there will be an autumn garden tour and afternoon tea with the property’s Head Gardener, involving an autumnal apple and pear tasting from the variety of historic trees.

The Tower

 There are few houses in which every detail, inside and out, are so lovely to look at, but Canons Ashby is one of them, with it last being altered in any major way back in 1710. In 1980 the house was transferred to the National Trust after a public appeal, with The Landmark Trust contributing to the restoration fund and offering to pay for the creation and repair of one flat which Landmark guests can enjoy today. The Tower is an apartment at the top of the 16th-century tower, providing a hidden refuge to those staying there, and at the end of the day, when the final visitors have left, guests of The Tower can walk in the surrounding gardens undisturbed.

Sleeps 2
Check-in on 21^st October for £74.50 PPPN (4 nights)
For availability and booking, visit here.

Best for pub lunches: Lower Porthmeor, Cornwall

Lower Porthmeor is a township, or farm hamlet, typical of this area of West Penwith in Cornwall. The houses themselves are not significantly old, but they represent a tradition as old as the tiny stone-hedged fields in which they stand, with fields that have hardly changed since the Iron Age. The surrounding moors are covered in gorse and wind-bent trees and are always atmospheric, but a vision of changing colours through the autumn. The area is also within easy reach of the music and arts festival, St Ives Festival, in September, although visiting in October will mean fewer crowds. There are two excellent pubs nearby – The Gurnard’s Head is just a short amble away and regularly topping lists, then the Tinners Arms in Zennor is two miles over the fields (or by road).

Arra Venton

Arra Venton stands apart from the other buildings in this tiny hamlet and unites three simple granite buildings – a former smithy and two cottages, one of which once served as a simple meeting house for those looking to find salvation outside the Established Church. With its companions in Lower Porthmeor, it forms a typical farm hamlet on a green coastal shelf between moors and the Atlantic cliffs just west of St Ives.

Sleeps 5
Check-in on 14^th October for £42.40 PPPN (4 nights)
For availability and booking, visit here.

The Farmhouse

The Farmhouse was built in about 1800 and is perched on a West Cornish cliff top. Inside can be found a pretty fireplace with a great chimney piece in the kitchen. While skylarks sing here in summer, when the gales from the Atlantic sweep dramatically around the headland, further resilience was needed for the properties on this far western point. The windows look out over the atmospheric moors with their beautifully changing autumnal colours.

Sleeps 4
Check-in on 30^th September for £47.50 PPPN (4 nights)
For availability and booking, visit here.

The Captain’s House

This simple granite house shares its spectacular Cornish cliff top setting with The Farmhouse. The Landmark Trust bought this farmstead, which had been derelict for years, in conjunction with the National Trust. The Berryman family were an ancient Cornish family who had lived at Lower Porthmeor before 1600. The Captain’s House dates from the 1840s, when it was the childhood home of Arthur Berryman, the last of the family. The house has a massive kitchen fireplace for staying warm in the cooler months, as well as a snug parlour.

Sleeps 4
Check-in on 21^st October for £46.25 PPPN (4 nights)
For availability and booking, visit here.

Best for set-jetting: Langstrothdale, North Yorkshire

The Langstrothdale valley is in the heart of the North Yorkshire Dales National Park, where the surrounding fields and trees turn copper before exploding into browns and reds during the autumn months. There are plenty of walks around this area of North Yorkshire to enable visitors to appreciate its wealth of picturesque villages and spectacular landscapes during this harvest season. Discover the breathtaking waterfalls around the village of Keld and the Aysgarth Falls near Leyburn. The historic market town of Richmond, with its castle, theatre, museum, impressive monuments and fine Georgian architecture, also has lots to offer visitors.

Cowside

Cowside is an unaltered example of a late 17th/early 18th-century farmhouse of the North Yorkshire Dales. Cowside is the most remote Landmark Trust mainland property, with a long access track, no mobile phone signal and the nearest telephone box two miles away, making it the ideal choice for those seeking a digital detox. It’s also not too far from the key filming spots for All Creatures Great and Small, such as Grassington, which stands in for the fictional village of Darrowby and is a 35 minute drive away. With season 5 of the series set to premiere on 19th September, autumn couldn’t be a better time for fans of the show to explore Darrowby for themselves.

Sleeps 5
Check-in on 7^th October for £45.60 PPPN (4 nights)
For availability and booking, visit here.