Beaverbrook

Beaverbrook is the late Victorian mansion built in 1866 for Abraham Dixon and bought in 1910 by Max Aitken, later Lord Beaverbrook, who installed one of the country's first home cinemas and entertained Churchill here. After a long restoration it opened as a country house hotel in 2016, set in 470 acres above the Surrey Hills outside Leatherhead, less than an hour from central London. Sir Frank Lowe curated the interiors, so the walls carry Gerhard Richter, Jean Cocteau and Brian Clarke alongside a Terry O'Neill portrait.

For private events the house offers four named rooms. The Orangery is the largest, a self-contained room with arched windows, a lantern roof and its own terrace, seating 75. The Writer's Block sits in the woodland of The Village and seats 26, while the wood-panelled Aitken Room and the Maxwell Room, hung with images from the Saucepans for Spitfires campaign, take 16 and 14. Beyond those, the estate lets The Dining Room, its Japanese grill, and The Garden House restaurant on exclusive hire, with a semi-private conservatory for up to 28.

Sir Frank's Bar, lined with more than 350 Marianne North paintings around an art-deco counter, sets the tone for a drinks reception, and the original 1911 cinema remains in The House. Weddings are taken by exclusive request, capped at 120 guests, with bedrooms across The House, The Garden House, The Coach House and The Village for guests staying on.