If you want to understand a country from a base that’s connected to the land, you want a farm stay. Whether it’s a trendsetting biodynamic farm or a storybook Alpine homestead, places all over Europe are increasingly innovating and opening their doors as hotels too. Five-star restaurants, spas and photogenic swimming pools are not uncommon. Some also offer their guests the chance to roll up their sleeves and muck in. Depending on the season, beasts and production, you may be able to feed the animals, ride horses or even help with the harvest — but no one will mind if you just want to stroll the surrounding meadows or seek out nearby vineyards. Even just seeing where the eggs are laid and the carrots are pulled up is a unique way to dig into the cuisine and food culture of your holiday spot.
1. Ballymaloe, Co Cork, Ireland
Welly walks and foodie classes
The late chef Myrtle Allen opened a restaurant from her kitchen and dining room here in 1964 and rooms were added three years later. A pioneer of the farm hotel movement, Ballymaloe is still home to free-range hens, pigs and sheep as well as an acclaimed restaurant and an outdoor pool you can use in summer. Rooms the colours of wildflowers, with embroidered headboards and squishy armchairs, are spread between the main mansion and a series of newer rooms in a courtyard. Walking maps and wellies are provided to all upon check-in, but book ahead to take cheesemaking or fermentation workshops at Ballymaloe Cookery School. The latter has a smallholding with a veg patch and Gloucester Old Spot pigs.
Details B&B doubles from £241 (ballymaloe.ie). Fly to Cork
2. Craveiral, Alentejo, Portugal
Swimming pools and serenity
An hour and a half from Faro airport, this whitewashed, russet-tiled Iberian farmhouse was sculpted into a family-friendly — but architecturally striking — design hotel in 2018. Goats, donkeys and ponies graze peacefully as you cycle around the olive tree-speckled grounds on free bikes while chefs snip herbs and peppers from the sun-drenched kitchen garden, ready for supper. It’s reasonably large, with 38 pine-clad rooms and villas full of mid-century furniture and textured throws; showstopping indoor and outdoor pools, a fire pit and sauna pile on the barefoot luxury. It’s dog-friendly, so pack the family hound if it has a passport.
Details B&B doubles from £174 (craveiral.pt). Fly to Faro
3. Oasyhotel, Tuscany, Italy
Sustainability and style
A spring 2022 newcomer, this hideaway in the heart of Tuscany promises a “nature-immersive” experience — the sort of place where you can go riding, wolf tracking or foraging before dining at one of two high-end farm-to-table restaurants. Set within the Dynamo Oasis Nature Reserve near Limestre, you’ll stay in a modest stone farmhouse or contemporary log cabin, feast on farm-produced jams, fruits and cheeses, and take to the forest-shrouded lake for swimming, kayaking or paddleboarding. With more than 2,400 acres of undisturbed farmland, lakes and rivers around you, you’ll be easily distracted from those chic interiors.
Details B&B doubles from £836 for a two-night minimum stay (oasyhotel.com). Fly to Florence
4. Hotel Madrisa, Montafon, Austria
Alpine family traditions
Tucked into a crevasse of the Austrian Alps, this gingerbread house-feel chalet is often topped with a dusting of snow. The Rhomberg family have been here for four generations and are champions of compassionate and organic farming: every cow and sheep roams freely and is known by name. Whether you’re here to ski in winter or hike the Austrian passes in summer, you’ll be well fed, with ingredients from local farmers and fishermen. Meat comes from Madrisa’s farm. Rooms are decidedly Seventies, with red carpets and rose-sprigged curtains set against wood panelling — but in this cutesy setting, it works.
Details Half-board doubles from £101 (madrisahotel.com). Fly to Friedrichshafen or Zurich
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5. Wanas, Skane, Sweden
Scandi sculpture and culinary artistry
A sought-after Swedish restaurant with rooms, Wanas is an 18th-century farmhouse with barns in verdant Skane, in southern Sweden. It’s home to an organically raised herd of dairy cows as well as an art gallery and sculpture park. While wholesome is on the interior menu — the rooms are beautifully Scandi-plain — so is culinary glamour. A five-course “new Nordic” tasting menu tops off a day following woodland trails and climbing interactive sculptures. Veg comes from the estate and the farm-made ice cream is a must.
Details B&B doubles from £262 (wanasrh.se). Fly to Malmo
6. La Donaira, Andalusia, Spain
Meditation and natural wines
The art of the Spanish finca — a rustic-chic rural guesthouse — is a precise and beautiful thing. La Donaira’s owners nail it with just nine rooms — gnarled stone walls, distressed wood beams, copper bathtubs and artisan cream rugs — and a price that includes all food and drink, for a retreat feel. You’ll want to pack up the whole aesthetic and take it home with you, including the spring-fed outdoor pool. Among almond and olive groves you’ll meet sheep, goats, chickens and cows — you can even “meditate” with the bees. Dig into the high-end vegetarian cuisine — with lashings of homemade goat’s cheese and olive oil — and enjoy the natural, biodynamic wines.
Details Full-board doubles from £1,542 for a two-night minimum stay (ladonaira.com). Fly to Seville
7. House Mayringerlehen, Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden, Germany
Mountain goats and great prices
Johann Grassl and family welcome you to their organic farm, where stout dairy cows, chatty chickens and Peppa-pink pigs roam valley scenery straight out of The Sound of Music. Just 45 minutes’ drive from Salzburg in Austria, this B&B is on the German side of the border, in bijou Ramsau. Chalet-style architecture and geranium-filled window boxes are complemented by the farm’s goats and occasional lederhosen-wearing from your hosts. Don’t expect high luxury, but hikers will love the mountain trails and kitsch, antler-mounted interiors.
Details B&B doubles from £174 for a minimum two-night stay (mayringerlehen.de). Fly to Salzburg
8. Longueville House, Co Cork, Ireland
Walled gardens and apple brandy
Orchard walks, fly fishing and mushroom foraging are all part of the scene at this genteel mansion, which is home to a drove of sheep and friendly pigs. Chintzy bedroom wallpaper and gingham bedspreads are more tasteful than they sound. Much of what you’ll eat is grown in the walled kitchen garden or foraged from the hedgerows around the estate. Honey comes courtesy of the farm’s bees; house cider is brewed from the fruits of a pretty orchard — even the apple brandy sipped around the communal log fire is homemade.
Details Half-board doubles from £347 (longuevillehouse.ie). Fly to Cork
9. Le Doyenné, Essonne, France
Marie Antoinette living
An hour’s drive south of Paris, this historic château and estate has a petite farm and lovingly tended vegetable garden, with chickens scratching and black pigs snuffling nearby. A smart Parisian crowd feasts on baked courgette flowers and homemade charcuterie in the converted-barn restaurant, with its inventive menu from the Aussie chefs James Henry and Shaun Kelly. A rarefied country retreat with clawfoot bathtubs, wooden beams and flea-market finds, it’s one for the grown-ups.
Details B&B doubles from £197 (ledoyennerestaurant.com). Fly or take the train to Paris
10. Herdade da Malhadinha Nova, Alentejo, Portugal
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Horse riding and spa treatments
Pigs, cows and sheep may dwell here in the deepest reaches of Portugal’s Alentejo region — but the star of the show is the purebred Lusitano horse. These glossy steeds are bred, reared and trained on the dusty grounds of Malhadinha Nova’s stud farm, next to an elegant whitewashed farmhouse with pool. Stylish suites and private villas have huge windows, linen bedding and views of more than 1,000 acres of vines and olive groves. The owners, the Soares family, also make delicious wines, with tours and tastings available. The restaurant uses estate-grown beef and pork as well as vegetables and fruit.
Details B&B doubles from £351 (malhadinhanova.pt). Fly to Faro
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