Looking for a peaceful and picturesque retreat accessible by train from London

Norfolk and Suffolk are full of lovely medieval villages….Lavenham and Long Melford in Suffolk for example. The Suffolk Wool Towns are famous for their large and beautiful churches built by wealthy wool merchants.

Hi

You could try Warner's in Hungerford which has it's own grounds outside the inner complex where I like to get up early and try and photograph the deer but might not be your photographic choice. If you decide, you may need to arrange transport from the station to the complex which is about 3 miles away. I drive the car there but never use it once there.

I have been to Castle Combe and photographed the usual bridge shot and the surrounding area

I am going to suggest Bruton in Somerset. There is a direct train from London and it’s a very pretty small town. If you really want to treat yourselves the Newt hotel nearby is on another level with frankly unbelievable gardens. I haven’t stayed there but have visited a few times.

Sorry did not realise that no ads or links with this company
just my way of adding photos
Posted links for years of our holidays of all places on TA

Another vote for Bruton here, because of the Hauser & Wirth art complex - art gallery and usually an interesting exhibition, a fantastic Piet Oudolf-designed garden and a restaurant, sometimes art/craft day courses too.

Yes Hauser and Wirth is fab. It’s only a very short walk from the town centre. There are some great restaurants in Bruton as well.

Do not promote or advertise. Proposing transactions or promoting your website, blog, hotel, restaurant, uncle's private tours in Istanbul, etc for the purpose of marketing, financial gain, or boosting traffic is prohibited. No fake reviews. Unsolicited guide reviews are subject to removal.

FrankII, I think this is what you are referring to? You will know more than me, but I think this only applies if holidayreviews is delboy’s personal website. I couldn’t read any more reviews there without logging in, so I don’t think it qualifies for the above stated purposes. But I could be wrong. Several people do post links to their reports on TA and that doesn’t seem to be against the rules. In any case, I really enjoyed the report and photos.

I immediately thought of Bath and then wondered about other spas. Here's an article I found:
https://www.cntraveller.com/gallery/best-spas-in-uk
I have no connection to Condé Nast, nor to any of the spas in the article.

My son set up the website for me years ago to add the holiday pictures in an order that makes sense. I am not sponsored I have to pay for the space to do it. It is completely locked, so I don't have to administrate it. So yes, I write my holiday experiences for others to see. Initaily, I would spend a week writing them on another person's site and because they paid for space, pictures would eventually disappear and be replaced by other pictureswithinn his space limits. So that is why I bought space at my own expense to avoid losing pictures. It is nothing more that adding photo to Flickr and writing about them each time on here that a lot of people do

Rye, Whitsable, Winchester.

As this is the winter, I'd definitely be looking to stay south. Kent and Sussex have good transport, and I love the Kent coast. Dorset is also a good option. I love East Anglia but I find Suffolk in particular harder to get around on public transport. Wherever you stay definitely make sure you have bad weather options for activities. This past month we've basically had non stop rain.

Picking up on Delboy's comments - I ran into this problem a few years ago when I had a website where I posted pictures and write ups of places I'd visited. There ws no advertising on the website and it was not used for commercial purposes. I'd posted links to my website while answering several different threads and got a message from the webmaster explaining:

we cannot allow anyone to link to their own website or blog either. We
don't have the capacity to investigate websites to see if people are
embedding affiliate links or using other commercial purposes.
I need to ask that you never link to your website again... If we see a link to your site again, it will force our hand to close your account.

We allow links to an image. However, it must link to the image only, not the web page that the image is on.

I am excited to be going to the Manor House in Castle Combe in 30 days times! I have been to the Cotswolds many times and I have been curious about staying here for awhile now, so I booked the Manor House last year for a big March birthday celebration. Good to here you LOVED it!

I would certainly stay in the South or South East of England for warmer and brighter weather. I do love Suffolk, but it is hard to get around without your own vehicle. I went to Hampshire to the New Forest last March. Stayed at the Monteagu Arms in Beaulieu. It is a very nice country house with a fine dining restaurant and a pub next door. Brockenhurst railway station may get you pretty close and you could take a taxi to the hotel. There are some pretty walks to Buckler's Hard (Master Builders/Harbour). and of course there are all the ponies, donkeys and cattle that roam freely around the pretty villages.

Would you like to stay in a lighthouse on the Sussex coast / South Downs Way?

https://www.belletout.co.uk/

Belle Tout Lighthouse B & B near Beachy Head is a favorite place of mine. Certainly easier with a car but I’ve never had one — reachable by train from London to Eastbourne in 90 minutes then short taxi to the B&B.

Gorgeous views, great breakfast, friendly innkeepers. You’d have to use taxis to get back and forth to restaurants in Eastbourne or the pub at Beachy Head — this was not a dealbreaker for us because we love the setting so much. The panoramic lantern room at the top of the lighthouse is a sitting area where you can enjoy the sweeping views even if the weather is poor.

You can walk to Birling Gap National Trust Cafe and Shop but I’ve read that the stairs down to the beach from the cafe are closed as a result of a recent cliff fall.

Eastbourne is said to have a microclimate that gives it more sunny days than you’d expect but not sure if that is true also for winter.

Winchester, Salisbury, Dorset.

or
Devon and Cornwall/

or
Bath, Wells and Glastonbury

"As this is the winter, I'd definitely be looking to stay south."

That might seem to be logical but it actually isn't logical to stay in the south east. The temperatures in the winter in the rural south east will be lower than those in the south west and no warmer than other places in the west further north. Whilst I wouldn't suggest Preston where I live as a possible venue it will be as warm on average as places in rural Kent for example. Might be a bit wetter though......

If you loved the Manor House, search for country house hotels. There are many such places around the south of England and it won’t be hard to find articles listing the best ones. The beauty of going somewhere like this is that you can take a taxi from the nearest station to the hotel and then you don’t have to move again. It’ll be cold and wet so you can just relax by a roaring fire (obligatory) and take a walk around the grounds when weather permits. A fabulous way to spend a few days.

If you enjoyed The Manor House check out Lucknam Park, it's only 10 minutes away, but has a spa, equestrian centre and the restaurant is superior in my opinion. It's our go to retreat hotel and we live nearby.

It is not in a village so you can't wander out and soak up Castle Combe, however the hotel will arrange transfers, and if you enjoy the outdoors you can walk to Castle Combe in an hour. Bath is very close, as is Bradford on Avon.