The Manor on Golden Pond

Katharine Hepburn and a doddering Peter Fonda may have made Golden Pond famous, but it's this New Hampshire Lakes District inn that keeps Squam Lake (the pond's real name) on the map. In the shadow of the White Mountains, on 14 acres enveloped by sentinel pines, the manor—which was a private home until the 1940's and an art colony for photographers in the 50's before it opened its doors to guests—is modeled after an English country estate. Beyond its Tudor architecture and carved oak corbels, many of the inn's antiques, as well as its traditional afternoon tea and dark-wood-paneled Three Cocks Pub, are straight from the other side of the (bigger) pond. The 23 tasteful rooms and two private cottages (19 of which are open in winter) feature chintz and country gingham fabrics, sleigh beds, working fireplaces, and fulsome baths stocked with L'Occitane products. Dinners are elaborate candlelit affairs; the kitchen swings in both directions, offering Chateaubriand for Two as well as special dishes for vegans. Extracurricular activities include the inn's cleverly named "Fork in the Road" cooking classes, and spa treatments with a local twist (think botanical mud wraps infused with pure NH maple syrup).

Insider Tip: Ask the concierge to book a scenic horse-drawn sleigh ride. Afterward you'll sip hot cocoa by a bonfire built by your sleigh driver.

Coziest Room to Book: Ask for the blue-and-white Churchill Room, complete with king bed and Jacuzzi tub, which, thanks to an ingenious sliding wall, can be hidden in the bath for privacy, or opened for a full-frontal view of the room's wood-burning fireplace.