Everyone in London is busy. Manic busy. We pace from A to B with an air of importance, brushing past dawdling tourists; huff and puff our way onto the Tube, crammed into an armpit during the rush hour; and, unless we’re careful, all too easily drift into the mind-numbing routine of eat, sleep, work, repeat.
When was the last time you switched off? I mean properly emptied your mind of stresses and torments? Mine was last weekend, as I enjoyed an autumnal al fresco breakfast at the foot of the South Downs in Sussex; the noise of traffic substituted for the chorus of birdsong and the drab high rises for olivaceous fields and hardwood trees sporting their cold russet veil.
Park House Hotel is a home from home. Once here you never want to leave, and despite being just 50 miles from central London it is truly a world apart.
Relaxation is intrinsic to the fabric of Park House, and warm hospitality exudes from every member of staff. Nearby, pine trees make for a peaceful walk through the Weald woodland, or a short hike up the undulate South Downs reveals incredible vistas across fields punctuated by livestock, farm buildings and quaint villages.
This agrestic ambiance spills into the kitchen too, and head chef Callum Keir is nothing short of a culinary wizard. Using seasonal ingredients – an ethos instilled in him from his early days under British Michelin-starred chef Martin Blunos – his menu reflects the wild game roaming the skies and fields, and the bounty of produce growing in the locality. A friend who previously stayed at the hotel had spoken in golden tones about the cuisine passing under Keir’s supervision, so we arrived with high expectations. These expectations were blown out of the water.
The food is just one of the many glowing facets to Park House. The garden hosts a chip-and-putt golf course broken by intimate lily-padded ponds, and in the summer there is a lawn court, bowls, croquet, and a riot of colour bursting from each flowerbed. It is a place that soothes and pacifies, drawing out the city strain and filling you with agrestic charm. And that’s before you’ve even visited the spa…
Soaking in this bucolic setting and the luxury each one of the 21 en-suite rooms and drawing rooms afford is a treat in itself, but don’t get too comfortable, as a short walk from the roaring log fires and inviting bar is an indoor pool, sauna and an intoxicating catalogue of massage and beauty treatments. It’s enough to have you planning a swift return. And I highly recommend you do.
Here, just an hour and a half from London, the rush hour queues and thick smog are long forgotten – this really is a home from home.
For more visit www.parkhousehotel.com
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