Located under an hour from London, Heckfield Place is set in 400 acres of garden, woodland and rolling Hampshire countryside.  The hotel will have the feel of a private home where guests can seek solace in numerous intimate spaces in the 18th century manor house and wider estate.

Beautifully crafted with exquisite detail at every level, Heckfield Place will offer an authentic and elegant country house experience celebrating Englishness with genuine charm and soul.

Says Inge Moore – “We are trying to reinstate the idea of the English manor house.  This means respecting the identity of the rooms that originally belonged to the house.  But with a twist.  We want it to be somewhere guests feel that can play – cosy despite Heckfield’s historical grandeur.  That sense of warmth and whimsy is important.  So something that was used on the farm is turned into a different object.  A loom becomes a wine rack, for instance.

Summer Williams adds “Eclectic and collected – that’s the feel.  A touch of the old, a touch of the new, with everything in balance.  Masculine and feminine, like the oak-panelled library and the buttery drawing room for afternoon tea.  But always with an edge of discovery.”

The style of the building is a Grade II listed 18thcentury manor house of classical form.  Red brick walls in Flemish bond with stone dressings.
Each of the 60 rooms at Heckfield Place will have their own unique style – rooms will be found around the stables, the walled garden and in the principal manor house, and will be intimate, secluded and full of personality.

The hotel, gardens and landscapes will respect Heckfield Place’s historical provenance and be created by some of the UK’s leading designers and architects including the Gardens Advisor to England’s historic Royal Palaces, Todd Longstaffe-Gowan.

Uniquely set on a working farm, the food at Heckfield Place will be simple and honest; local and estate-sourced ingredients deliciously prepared. The estate is already home to Berkshire Pigs and a herd of rare breed Aberdeen Angus cows, and seasonal produce will be freshly picked ready for cooking. Culinary Director Skye Gyngell will create a menu to showcase the finest and freshest ingredients, with dishes prepared with her characteristic simplicity. Skye’s distinctive food philosophy will inform every aspect of dining at Heckfield Place, from sourcing and menus through to plating and presentation.

Eating at Heckfield Place will be a pleasure, with different environments for different moods. The Beckwith, an intimate dining room with 30 covers, will welcome guests for both lunch and dinner with hand-written set menus, devised weekly and dictated by the kitchen gardens. The Restaurant will be a light, airy, casual space for convivial dining with family and friends. Breakfast will include eggs from the farm, fruit from the orchards, home grown honey and jams and freshly-baked bread. At lunch and dinner, an à la carte menu will offer ‘little things’, ‘salads’, ‘dry-aged beef’, and ‘slow-cooked things’. Afternoon tea at Heckfield will be an elegant and languid affair, and a chance to relax and indulge in quintessentially British treats. For The Stables, Skye has created a staple menu of four hearty dishes available throughout the day from mid-morning onwards.

Private events at the hotel will range from literary salons to musical recitals to more gourmet-focused experiences, including foraging weekends and wine tastings. There will be film clubs to be part of, with an underground, state-of-the-art 65-seat cinema, and occasional author sessions in the hotel’s library. Private health and beauty treatments will be available in the former estate cottages. Pubs, shops and quaint English villages, horse riding, golf, chalkstream fishing and major historical attractions are all nearby.

“Ultimately Heckfield Place is all about reconnecting – with England’s past, with future ideas, and with all that is natural, including great food, honestly cooked, enjoyed in the easy company of like-minded people,” says Charles Oak, the hotel’s General Manager, formerly GM of The Mayfair in London and Scotland’s Skibo Castle. “We want Heckfield Place to be comforting and true to itself. We don’t want to be formulaic, but intuitive, honest and elegant – it will be a hotel with a soul.”