When a hotel is stuffed to the gills with this many diversions and delights, it seems silly to venture too far until you’ve made the most of them. So, eat your fill at Fletchers, pull on a pair of the hotel’s wellies for a stomp around the sweeping grounds and a turn in the English Heritage-listed Japanese garden. Then, swim luxuriant lengths in the indoor pool, get gently pummelled by the excellent therapists in the Three Graces Spa and catnap on a heated sunlounger. Later, take afternoon tea in the drawing room, munch on miso aubergine at EightyEight and water down your whisky in the wood-panelled Norton Bar. Once you’re ready to explore, make your first port of call the Unesco-protected Fountains Abbey. This romantic and atmospheric site combines crumbling monastic ruins, water gardens, statues, follies and a deer park, so it’s perfect for summer picnics. History buffs and literature lovers should hop to Castle Howard to see the fictional ‘Brideshead’, its 100 acres of parkland and arboretum. Though they may look like modern-art installations, the weird and wonderful formations at Brimham Rocks are naturally occurring. The craggy wonders are free to visit. Of course, if you prefer your nature even more rugged, Grantley Hall flirts with the Eastern fringes of the Yorkshire Dales – you can hike or bike for miles without seeing evidence of human life, save an Iron Age hill fort or two.