Heckfield Place

The Gold List 2022

@cntraveller

"There’s a reassuring seamlessness to Heckfield Place, a renovation of a stout Georgian manor house that is true to its redbrick bones, yet somehow perfectly modern. Even getting here is relatively frictionless from London. The first time I came, I was eight months pregnant and anxious, but we’d barely finished The Archers omnibus when we glided into Heckfield’s 438 acres of pasture and woodland, with its arboretum and ornamental lake, installed in the 19th century by Viscount Eversley, speaker of the House of Commons. For all that the restoration itself was a trial—Boston-based billionaire Gerald Chan endured more than a decade of painstaking work before its eventual opening in 2018—the end result is proof that Georgian needn’t feel stiff or chintzy. Designer Ben Thompson went big on earthy tones and textures, “editing” the grand house (his words) with greenery and leaving forest-green, ochre, or rose-colored walls elegantly unadorned. There’s a constant sense of the outside creeping in—sometimes literally, in the case of the biodynamic farm on the estate that supplies two wonderful restaurants overseen by seasonal-eating pioneer Skye Gyngell. Activities include trail running, wild swimming, and rowing on the lake with tuck boxes in tow. A new spa, The Bothy, will open this year with a focus on nature and mindfulness. But I’m just as happy in my light-bathed room, clad in a chenille robe and quietly perusing the pocket library. Like the place itself, life here feels entirely unforced. Doubles from $470. —Jo Rodgers."

50 Best Discovery Hotels

@fiftybestdiscoveryhotels

"60 chambres. Restaurant : Marle. Bar : Moon Bar."

Jose María Toro

@bloghedonista