Blantyre

Guests feel less like royalty, and more like part of a collective royal family.

An opulent country house in the Berkshires, staying at Blantyre is like being transported into a Jane Austen novel. A historic mansion with turrets, towers, gargoyles, and an interior of burnished wood, overstuffed chairs, heirloom fixtures and damask walls, Blantyre whisks you away to a time when pleasures were simpler and more refined.

With only eight rooms in the main house, four guest cottages, and a 10-room carriage house, Blantyre spares nothing when it comes to recreating Victorian luxury. Leaded glass windows, four-poster beds, fireplaces, and glossy antique wooden furniture: each room is just begging for regal visitors. And when it comes time for the evening meal in the linen-and-crystal dining room, every gentleman should pass for blue-blood with the jacket-and-tie dress code.

Attractions in the Berkshires won't disappoint aspiring lords and ladies of the manor. Go antique shopping, fishing, and golfing, or take up the ultimate country-manor sport: croquet.