Unbridled

This countryside retreat in North Yorkshire is a great place to holiday with extended family or a group of friends. Comprising two interconnected properties that were once an old coach house and stables, there is ample room here both to spread out and come together. Outside, the sizeable garden boasts a hot tub and table tennis. While inside, each of the five bedrooms has an en suite bathroom with a roll-top bath or walk-in shower. It’s an ideal venue for a group getaway and while it feels tucked away in the countryside, you’re actually handily within walking distance of Ripon.

Unbridled may be an attractive Grade-II-listed property, but it offers a thoroughly modern place to stay. There’s an electric car charging outside and a bold modern take on design throughout. You can still see period features in exposed brickwork and beams but they form the backdrop to more contemporary craftwork – for example a bespoke floating staircase, designer lamps and dramatic tiling in the bathrooms. All of which makes you wonder whether its name, Unbridled, was chosen in reference to its equestrian heritage use or for the flair with which this holiday home was designed.

The overall effect of all this, alongside large sofas and generous use of fabrics and artwork on whitewashed walls, is to give you a feeling of relaxed luxury. It’s enhanced by the light-filled atrium that forms the main living space and which is directed to give views of the garden. You could spend your whole holiday right here, perhaps padding barefoot across the heated floors to the cedarwood hot tub in the garden before lunch on the terrace. Many will use it for just that – as a place to simply relax surrounded by family and friends, but stay for longer and you’ll want to strike out into your surroundings.

The walk into Ripon takes just 10 minutes and to drive it’s only two. There’s plenty to see in the city from its grand cathedral to its workhouse museum, and also lots of places to eat and drink. If it’s countryside you’ve come for, you're spoilt for choice, because Ripon sits between the Dales and the Moors of Yorkshire’s two National Parks. Walking, mountain biking and road cycling opportunities abound in these parts, and when you’re done it’s back to the comfort of those huge sofas or the soothing waters of that hot tub.