Whether sleek Scandinavian sophistication or organic style that echos the surrounding landscape, a key and unwavering theme here at Unique Homestays is the timeless aesthetic. Homes in beautiful locations shouldn't compete with the local culture or nature, but offer a refuge from which to best embrace it. If there's one thing 2020 has taught us so far, it's to see beauty in the littlest luxuries - simple, clean living being the biggest of them all. Now that travel restrictions are easing, demand for low-key lavish escapes has soared to new heights. Here we round-up the best holiday homes for UK staycations; each unique but bound by a common thread of understated luxury. The type of luxury that's here for the long-term.
Ukiyo
The name ‘Ukiyo’ derives from Japanese culture and translates to ‘the floating world’, a blissful state of detachment from the bothers of everyday life. Perched above Coverack Cove on the south Cornwall coast, this unique modern home strikes an elegant balance between an industrial aesthetic and the untamed environment in which it resides. The contemporary poured concrete interior is offset by Siberian larch cladding on the outside, which will silver-off and melt into the ocean setting more and more over time.
Barton Blanc
Occupying a secluded spot on Devon's River Taw, a restorative escape awaits at this sprawling farmhouse retreat. Barton Blanc's embrace of monastic simplicity is offset by elemental details, from the honest materials used in the house's restoration to the terracotta tiles and tan leather chesterfields neatly set around huge fireplaces.
Villa Boden
Reflecting the nuanced realm of Scandinavian design, Villa Boden has two sides. On one is its warm, open, light-filled demeanour and, on the other, its moodier counterpart: sleek, sophisticated, and timeless in its connection to the dramatic harbour setting. Matt black fittings nod to the serpentine rocks that comprise this part of the Cornish coast, while seagrass rugs laid on heated floors give a feel of barefoot walks along warm sandy beaches all day long.
The Meadows
Carve through Bodmin Moor's Poldarkian scenery and rattle over a cattlegrid some ten-minutes inland from Watergate Bay, and you'll be pleased to meet this sublime self-catering escape in wildflower meadows near the north Cornwall coast. With a pacifying white-washed theme and minimal furnishings including a floating egg bath overlooking the rockery garden - here you'll find country living on modern terms.
Apifera
With simple interiors and only a small television to steal attention, nothing else in the world seems to exist when holidaying at Apifera. An enchanting stone cottage far from city crowds, its tangled orchards and vintage furnishings combine to offer guests a hearty slice of 'The Good Life' deep in Hereford's green Wye Valley.
The Lost Music Hall
The Lost Music Hall is a celebration of honest craftsmanship. This unconventionally grand music room was first designed by a London socialite as his secret retreat from society before being neglected for many years. A tender restoration of the Devon manor paid homage to its Arts and Crafts roots, polishing up the parquet flooring and keeping colours to a simple mix of monochrome hues. In the words of Morris himself ‘simplicity of life, even the barest, is not a misery, but the very foundation of refinement.’
