It may be unseasonably warm, but there’s an unmistakeable autumnal crisp to the air right now. Outside the capital, that equals cosy new bars at luxury countryside estates, lakeside saunas and autumnal suppers. Here’s what’s happening beyond the M25 in September – and what to book now for the months ahead.
Heckfield branches out
Hampshire hotel and working farm Heckfield Place – whose restaurant is led by Spring culinary director Eleanor Henson – has entered the bar game with the launch of the Workman’s Bar. It’s open to both hotel guests and those who aren’t staying on-site, pouring contemporary updates on British drinks from the 1950s, including a whisky and ginger ale, an Old Fashioned made with English whisky, and a shandy made with zero-waste lemon cordial. Its design nods to Britain’s industrial history, and the walls are lined with works depicting industrial life in the 1950s by Newcastle artist Malcolm Teasdale.
A photographic survey worth travelling for
For decades, photographer Sunil Gupta has documented queer life around the world, from ’70s Montreal to New York City post-Stonewall riots and contemporary Delhi. From September 19 to January 31, 2027, Gupta’s work will be the subject of a sweeping new survey at Kettle’s Yard gallery in Cambridge, with more than 130 works that capture the ongoing fight for LGBTQ+ rights and the joy and fearlessness of the community.
A new restaurant in the Cotswolds
Seasonal British produce gets the southern USA barbecue treatment at Ember at The Chandlers Arms, which has just opened in a former gastropub in the Cotswolds village of Epwell. Head to the tiny village, where chef and co-founder Matty Cartwright is doing dishes that might include smoked beef cheek massaman, a juicy burger topped with black pudding and pulled lamb with whipped feta. Craft beers – including cask ales brewed exclusively for the pub – are on the pour, as are cocktails made with spirits from Cotswolds Distillery.
End of summer session
Make the most of the last days of sunshine with a trip to Bolney Wine Estate in Sussex – just an hour outside of London – which is hosting the last of its Summer Sunset evenings on September 26. Live music will play throughout the evening as guests look out over the vines and sip on English sparkling wine.
A once-in-a-generation regeneration
Luxurious Northumberland country hotel Matfen Hall will fully reopen tomorrow, September 15, after a six-year, £50 million transformation. The last piece of the regeneration is the launch of The Retreat, a new spa with an 18-metre indoor pool, Himalayan salt sauna, steam showers, red light therapy rooms, hyperbaric chambers and more. The property – now the county’s only five-star hotel – also boasts more drinking and dining options, including the oak-panelled 1832 Bar for classic cocktails; and Cloisters, a new seafood and champagne bar and grill. Plus, there are 10 new guest rooms and existing spaces have been restored to preserve their 19th-century grandeur.
Autumnal supper
Book now and rug up for the final instalment of Tewinbury Farm’s outdoor dining series, which happens on October 2. The Hertfordshire hotel will celebrate the turn of the season with a long table set up in its market garden and a meal of flame-charred vegetables and slow-cooked dishes paired with warm breads and wines from small producers. Don’t fancy driving back to London post-dinner? Book into one of Tewinbury’s shepherd’s huts or lodges for an overnight stay afterwards.
A Cornish escape
Replenish, a new five-day retreat on the north Cornish coast, is doing things a little differently, bringing together wellness and adventure with conservation, talks and music. The next retreat is on September 21, followed by another in November and more in 2027. Guests will kip at private estate Tregulland (Claudia Winkleman’s a fan) or Barford Beach House, and participate in everything from surfing to saunas and long lunches of local produce by the seaside. More unusually, guests will participate in hands-on conservation projects (which might include a beach clean-up), and listen to speakers discuss the latest findings in the world of neuroscience.
Berkshire’s new digs
Chef Dom Chapman and restaurateur Nigel Sutcliffe – who met while working at The Fat Duck Group – have opened the Jack O’Newbury, the result of a two-year restoration of a former village inn in Binfield, Berkshire. The 11 cosy rooms are split between the pub itself and a refurbished barn, and clad in earthy colours and dark timbers. The dining room and terrace, which overlooks two acres of wildflower meadows, serve British classics like fish pie and slow-cooked venison, with many ingredients pulled from the property’s own kitchen garden. For drinks, there’s local ales, English wine and seasonal cocktails, which can be taken in the restaurant or enjoyed in the public bar near a wood-burning stove.
Get sweaty
Saltmoore in North Yorkshire, a luxury hotel that sits between the North Sea and the moors just outside Whitby, has just unveiled a glass-fronted sauna next to its on-site lake. It fits six guests and is the perfect foil to a bracing walk by the nearby beach as the weather turns.
A century of Cook
The joyful works of legendary British artist Beryl Cook have taken over Oxfordshire’s Bicester Village, in collaboration with London art shop House of Voltaire. Life-size cut-outs of some of the most recognisable characters – lawn bowlers, dancing ladies, even birds in trees – from her vibrant paintings form a mile-long open-air exhibition until October 25 in celebration of what would have been Cook’s 100th birthday. There’s also a life-size recreation of one of her most famous works, Breakfast at Elvira’s, which depicts her son and daughter-in-law’s cafe.
