Best Country Houses Near London for Group Reunions

At ARC, we know that getting your friends and family to agree to a date is that hard part, so we want to make finding the house easy.

All of our luxury country house rentals are designed to the same standard and have been purposefully renovated for large group accommodation, so you can rest assured that everyone - including your youngest cousin or single friend - will get a hotel standard bed and ensuite.

A house that sleeps 26 on paper can still feel cramped if half of it is bunk beds, the kitchen is too small and there is not enough space for the group to sit together in the lounge or around the dining table.

ARC was founded to address exactly this issue, offering country houses for 18 - 30 people in the best parts of the UK where every one of the guests is guaranteed to enjoy boutique hotel-level accommodation and facilities. There are no dud rooms or dodgy mattresses here!

Each house has been fitted with a brand new chef’s kitchen that is perfectly equipped to cater for the whole house: with multiple fridges and ovens, and enough serving bowls, wine or cocktail glasses for everyone with some to spare. If the weather is nice, you can take your cooking outside as every ARC has an outdoor kitchen and dining table, complete with South African Braii and the ever popular pizza oven. Or, ARC has a roster of exceptional private chefs, so you can ask someone else to do the cooking, meaning everyone gets an actual holiday.

We believe a reunion venue needs several reasons for people to stay together, so each house has been designed with additional places for groups to gather and linger over conversation, be that the fire pit, a cosy lounge or in the hot tub.

We have built the houses so that you’ll never want to leave, although that would be a huge shame as they’re located in some of the most beautiful parts of England. If the house isn’t in a national park or Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, then we don’t want to know! Our search for the best holiday destinations in the UK means we have houses dotted around the country (with more opening early next year), so there is bound to be one to suit your group size and location.

If you’re looking for a London group getaway, Painswick, Thorpeness on the Suffolk coast, and Next-the-Sea on the North Norfolk coast all sit within two and a half hours' drive, an easy long weekend. Peaks, in the Peak District, costs an extra hour for real hills and a bigger house, whilst Padstow, in Cornwall, is close to five hours out but the drive earns you hidden beaches, clifftop walks and picture-perfect sunsets.

We’ve picked out the key features of each ARC below or use our quiz to help make your decision.

The houses

ARC Padstow — Cornwall

St Issey's eighteenth-century manor sits inland from Padstow, with the north Cornish coast's hidden beaches and clifftop paths a short drive out. At 245 miles and about four hours forty-five, it's the furthest of the five from London.

It sleeps 26 across superking and king ensuites, convertible to twins. A playroom, fire pit, wood-fired hot tub and pizza oven earn their keep with children in the party, and four open fires and a bar give the evenings somewhere to land once the beach day's done.

ARC Painswick — the Cotswolds

Painswick calls itself the Queen of the Cotswolds and this fifteenth-century manor sits at the centre of the wool-town scenery that first draws people here. Ninety minutes from London, it's the closest of the five, close enough to leave straight from work on a Friday.

It sleeps 26 across nine bedrooms and an optional ground-floor king room. The dining room, once an eighteenth-century embroidery workshop, seats fifty, so the whole reunion eats together rather than splitting across tables. A heated pool, cinema snug, wood-fired tub and three fireplaced lounges cover for whatever the Cotswolds weather does, which is what makes this the easiest of the five to plan around.

ARC Peaks — the Peak District

Peaks occupies a restored printworks in Wildboarclough, deep in the Peak District, with its own stretch of woodland river. It's 171 miles from London, just over three hours by car or a train to Macclesfield and a fifteen-minute transfer, and it's the choice for a reunion after real hills and quiet rather than a village high street outside the door.

It sleeps 30 across eleven bedrooms, all but one ensuite, the largest house of the five and the one to pick once a reunion has outgrown the others. A twelve-metre indoor pool, yoga space and cinema room cover any weather, and a step-free ground floor with a lift and accessible ensuite make it the simplest choice for older relatives or anyone with mobility needs.

ARC Thorpeness — the Suffolk coast

Thorpeness converted its Grade II listed water tower into a house, set in an Edwardian resort village on Suffolk's Heritage Coast, minutes from its own lake, beach and tennis courts. At 98 miles and about two hours fifteen from London, it's an easy weekend away, no West Country motorway slog required.

It sleeps 20 across nine bedrooms, mostly superking ensuites plus one quad room. A heated pool, wood-fired hot tub and pergola-covered outdoor kitchen suit slow afternoons, and the fifth-floor lounge's coastal view is where the group ends up before dinner. Better suited to a tighter reunion of twenty than a house built for thirty.

ARC Next-the-Sea — North Norfolk

This house began as church rooms in Wells-next-the-Sea, a working fishing port on the North Norfolk coast, a half-hour walk from the beach and pine forest and empty sand beyond it. At 122 miles and two and a half hours from London, it's about as far as Thorpeness, just with a wilder coastline.