Hotel review: Beaverbrook
Last weekend, Oliver surprised me by whisking me away to the English countryside for an extended birthday celebration. He couldn’t have picked a better location: the stunning Beaverbrook hotel in Surrey, one of the UK’s most luxurious country house hotels, and also the former pad of Lord Beaverbrook, one of Winston Churchill’s closest confidantes. We spent three leisurely nights here, and I would have happily stayed for longer; read on to find out why Beaverbrook now sits on this list amongst my favourite hotels in the UK.
First impressions: 5/5
Boasting acres of rolling estate (the hotel sits next to the Beaverbrook Golf Club), the property is a mere 40-minute train ride from London Victoria, making it one of the most easily accessible country house hotels I’ve visited. Arriving in Leatherhead, you’ll still be in Uber’s cachement area, meaning that it’s super easy to request a cab to drive you the short ride to the estate.
Upon arrival at the gatehouse, you’ll be greeted with a scenic drive, before arriving at the main house. The interior design at Beaverbrook is undoubtedly old-school glamour, without being dated: you’ll find plush, floral furnishings married with a feminine colour palette woven throughout the rooms. Bedrooms in the main house are the priciest option, and are all named after revered icons, who were all once guests of Lord Beaverbrook. For slightly more affordable options, there are more contemporary bedrooms in the Garden House (a short buggy ride away from the main house), which are just as stylish, or the Coach House, which is a ten-second walk from the main house, and also houses the hotel spa. We were in the Rudyard Kipling room in the main house, which features sumptuous pale pink furnishings, a sofa at the foot of our bed, and books by Kipling on the desk.
The main house boasts a sweeping grand staircase in the hallway, and multiple areas to relax in: from the Library (where you can peruse the bookshelves and play chess by the fire), to the pale pink Morning Room, where complimentary afternoon tea and cake are served every day. Guests from outside the hotel visit on weekends too, and they will mainly gather in the stunning Sir Frank’s Bar, where you’ll find velvet bar stools, and endless prints lining the walls. Meanwhile, the Dining Room in the main house is where breakfast is served in the mornings, and also functions as the hotel’s Japanese grill restaurant at lunch and dinner.
To do: 5/5
We found ourselves following a similar routine each day at Beaverbrook. Following a leisurely breakfast, we’d read the papers and play chess in the Morning Room until midday, before heading out for a walk and spending the afternoon at the spa.
However, there’s a whole wealth of activities available if you favour the outdoors; besides from just exploring the grounds, clay pigeon shooting, hiring bikes to cycle around the estate, table tennis, and croquet are all options; if you bring children with you, leave them at the impressive kid’s playground.
The hotel also boasts a slick and extensive spa labelled the Coach House. Step inside this complex (a mere minutes’ walk from the main house), and you’ll immediately feel zen. The spa features one of the most impressive gyms I’ve seen in a country house hotel, as well as an indoor and outdoor pool. The onsite Spa Deli is the perfect place to fuel up after a workout, and offers a delicious selection of salads and proteins, or homemade flatbreads that cater for all dietary requirements. The adults-only relaxation area is where you’ll find individual treatment rooms, and relaxing pods where you can read books and while away the time in your individual booth. And if you forget your swimsuit, or want to stock up on any of the products used in treatments, there’s also a small boutique where you can make purchases. Spa membership is also available to non-residents, but even so, we didn’t find the spa busy at all during our weekend; if anything, it was an extremely calming and relaxing environment.
Finally, our evenings were spent at the hotel’s cinema, which boasts an impressive sound system, plush velvet armchairs, and a popcorn machine. There are daily scheduled screenings, but you can also request to watch a movie from the hotel’s wide selection if no one else turns up; on our final night, the hotel even downloaded Interstellar for us to watch upon request, and we had the cinema booked for ourselves.
Food and drink: 4/5
Breakfast is served in the Dining Room every day, which has sweeping views across the estate (or you can order breakfast in bed!). From creamy spinach and chilli scrambled eggs, to fluffy pancakes with bacon, fresh juices, and croissants with homemade jams, you can expect to be thoroughly fed here; we had breakfast included in our room rate, which meant that we were able to order as much as we liked. After a large breakfast, we tended to opt for a light lunch in the spa deli; besides here, there are two main restaurants where meals are served: the Dining Room, and the Garden House restaurant.
The Garden House is located a short buggy ride from the main house, and serves an Anglo-Italian menu in an atmospheric, greenhouse-like setting featuring a roaring fire and contemporary touches. The menu offers hearty comfort food, such as homemade truffle pastas and chicken Milanese: finish off your meal with the sublime apple tarte tartin, shared between two.
In comparison, the Dining Room is a more formal affair, and is home to the hotel’s Japanese grill. I won’t pretend that my expectations for our first meal here weren’t very high: I’ve rarely been to a Japanese restaurant in London (let alone the English countryside!) that compares to the meals I’ve eaten in East Asia. How wrong I was…head chef Taiji Haruyama has done an excellent job here, serving up exquisite melt-in-the-mouth sushi, inventive raw fish tacos, and delicious robata grill options like truffled chicken - plus who knew that tenderstem broccoli could taste so good? Don’t miss the omakase nigiri, and make sure to save room for dessert too (dense chocolate brownies, the creamiest matcha ice cream I’ve ever eaten, and homemade mochi) - at lunchtimes, there’s also bento box menu. The restaurant perfectly encapsulates authentic Japanese fine dining without any pretension; we loved it so much, and we chose to eat here again on our third and final evening.
Comfort and service: 5/5
We found staff throughout the hotel extremely helpful, friendly, and willing to please. It’s the little things that count that made our stay special, such as the home baked nibbles always available in the hotel hallway (think mini flapjacks or superfood bars), to the complimentary mini bar in our bedroom, which was restocked with tasty snacks on an everyday basis.
We loved that despite the hotel being fully occupied that weekend, we didn’t at all feel like it was overwhelmingly busy or hectic at all. In fact, all parts of the hotel were peaceful, from the spa, to the restaurants, and we didn’t ever feel like we were fighting for the staff’s attention. There were multiple families with young children staying, but it didn’t feel like they ever got in the way thanks to the number of kid-friendly activities on site.
From the stunning interiors, to the gourmet food and opportunities to be pampered, your every sense is appealed to at Beaverbrook, and you truly feel like you’re sitting in the lap of luxury. It’s definitely one to visit for a special occasion, and I’ll be back at the first opportunity!
