Posts Tagged “country house hotel”
We are blessed, in the Home Counties and Greater London, with a wealth of fine hotels. There are boutique hotels, glitzy city hotels, former ancestral piles, and then there are those few gems which are timeless and utterly charming, and they might combine a little of all of the above, and in memorable fashion.. That’s…
This truly is a ‘garden’ house with the intimate character of a cosy cottage. (Read more about the Garden House here.) It’s part of the Beaverbrook Estate and the smaller of two hotels, the other being the lavish and imposing main house which was once the home of Lord Beaverbrook, one of the most influential…
Luton Hoo is an English country house and estate with easy access to London. But what is a ‘hoo’? The unusual name “Hoo” is a Saxon word meaning the spur of a hill. Luton Hoo is not mentioned in the Domesday Book, but a family called de Hoo lived on the site for four hundred…
Champagne is the quintessential celebration drink. We enjoy it with friends and loved ones, accompanied by fine foods, perhaps in a drawing room with high ceilings, Grinling Gibbons wood carvings and sumptuous drapes. Well, OK, most of us can’t manage that stunning setting …but Luton Hoo can! Luton Hoo is an English Country House Hotel…
We might be in London for a short holiday. We see the sights, monuments, museums. We shop till we drop and we are swept along by throngs of others looking for the same delights of retail therapy. But there is another vision of England. It’s that ‘green and pleasant land’ of manicured gardens, country houses…
This is one of the most beautiful and unspoilt corners of the British Isles. The New Forest is an area in southern England with an expanse of open pasture, heath and forest and it covers south-west Hampshire, south-east Wiltshire and on to east Dorset. The New Forest was created as a royal hunting ground by…
Ashdown Forest is an ancient area of heathland about 30 miles (48 km) south of London in East Sussex. It was once a medieval hunting forest created soon after the Norman conquest of 1066. The Forest continued to be used by royalty and the nobility for hunting into Tudor times. King Henry VIII, the monarch…
It is indeed a park, and a world-renowned 27-hole golf course set in landscaped grounds. Lots of facilities for club members, as well as for those taking advantage of day-membership and hospitality packages. But there is a stunning little corner of Stoke Park which is open to the general public and at a price that…
It’s the kind of country-house estate that we believe has disappeared. How can there be anything this magnificent so close to London (only 35 minutes from the capital and 7 miles from Heathrow Airport)? But here it is in all its splendour. In fact it’s such an icon of classic British architecture that it’s been…
Only 35 minutes from the capital and 7 miles from London Heathrow airport, Stoke Park offers everything you might want from a sport and leisure resort, and in the most magnificent surroundings, combined with one of the best hotels and restaurants. It’s been used as a film location for James Bond’s Goldfinger and for Bridget…
Stately Homes have always held a fascination. Great houses set amongst manicured lawns, and trees often grown from seedlings collected by intrepid botanists a couple of centuries ago. But now we can enjoy not only a few hours at these magnificent estates but we can stay and play. When it comes to chequered and fascinating…
This is an imposing Queen Anne mansion. Go on, admit it, you can’t remember who Queen Anne was and didn’t know she was a builder. The Elms dates from 1710 and the exterior has all the elegant proportions of a stately home of that period. It was designed by architect Thomas White who was a…
Joseph and Alison Petitjean have owned and run Brockencote Hall for the last 24 years. They had been living in France and were just married, and they had a dream of opening a country house hotel in England. They visited properties suitable for conversion to an hotel and settled on Brockencote Hall. They bought the…