Forget the daffodils, the Lake District is at its best as the leaves turn a kaleidoscope of colours and the summer crowds thin. There are walks from the door of the newly opened Brackenrigg Inn and the long-distance Ullswater Way is just a five-minute drive. Guests can use the pool, outdoor hot tub and paddleboards belonging to luxe big sister Another Place.

B&B doubles from £180 (another.place).

Kinloch Lodge on the Isle of Skye really comes into its own in the autumn. Head out with an expert on the Lodge team to see rutting red deer and perhaps a golden eagle soaring overhead, or join a foraging expedition to find edible treats, such as bog myrtle, wood sorrel and golden chanterelles. Alternatively, just enjoy the vistas of bracken-clad hills reflected in the waters of Loch na Dahl.

Dinner B&B from £230 per person (kinloch-lodge.co.uk).

There’s already an impressive subterranean spa at Hoar Cross Hall in Staffordshire, with everything from a starlit salt cave to a saltwater pool. Now a £3 million spa terrace has been added, with three outdoors hydrotherapy pools heated to 38°C, cold tubs in the form of aged whisky barrels, a sauna overlooking the pools and warming fire pits.

From £259 per person for a night’s stay, three meals and a 60-minute spa treatment (baronseden.com).

Help harvest the grapes at Tinwood in Sussex, followed by lunch and a glass or three of sparkling wine. Or just drink in the vista of vines from your bed in one of the vineyard’s swish lodges after a spell in the barrel sauna or hot tub. A new restaurant provides modern British tapas to accompany wine from the fridge in each lodge.

A night’s B&B for two from £265, harvest experience £65 per person (tinwoodestate.com).

Take forest bathing literally as you wallow in the wood-fired hot tub of Boulder Field Cabin amid Peak District woodland ablaze with colour. With panoramic views from rugged Eagle Tor, the cabin for two comes with a wood burner to keep things snug. The kitchen is outdoors, and a composting toilet is nearby. Remember to pack champagne.

Two nights for two from £390 (coolstays.com).

After a day exploring the Brecon Beacons, a warm welcome awaits both walkers and their four-legged friends at the Felin Fach Griffin. There’s no charge for dogs to stay with you in the cottage-style rooms; they get their own bowls, towels and biscuits and can join you for dinner in the pub, which offers a daily changing menu of simple food done extremely well.

B&B doubles from £182.50 (felinfachgriffin.co.uk).

For that New England feel, head to Westonbirt Arboretum, where the national collection of maples burns with yellow and orange autumn foliage. It’s a short drive from Burleigh Court in Gloucestershire, a grade-II listed manor with 18 rooms. The hotel runs a monthly foraging experience, and on October 25th will take guests on a morning hunt for wild ingredients followed by lunch.

B&B doubles from £140, foraging £49 per person (burleighcourtcotswolds.co.uk).

Who says the beach is only for summer? Three Mile Beach, in Cornwall St Ives Bay, has just added two-bedroom ‘beach shacks’, with log burners, sunken cedarwood hot tubs and barrel saunas to its line-up of larger lodges. Take the children and the dog, book a surf lesson and, if you don’t feel like cooking, get the private chef to make dinner.

Two-bedroom shack from £620 for three nights (threemilebeach.co.uk).

You can stargaze from the outdoors sunken bath or from around the firepit at these two A-framed timber lodges at West Cawthorne, on the edge of the North York Moors dark sky reserve. Each has a simple, pared-back interior with a king-size bed on the mezzanine, underfloor heating, and a pair of binoculars to appreciate views by both night and day.

Two nights for two from £360 (northyorkshirehideaways.com).

Those ‘seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ actually drew their inspiration from poet John Keats’ daily walk through Winchester’s Cathedral Close and water meadows to St Cross. Follow in his footsteps on the two-mile amble, pay homage to Jane Austen’s grave in the cathedral and visit nearby St Catherine’s Hill. Stay at The Old Vine, where some of the six rooms have cathedral views.

B&B doubles from £165 (oldvinewinchester.com).