Heckfield Place

Heckfield Place is a Georgian house at the heart of a 438-acre estate in north Hampshire, about an hour from London. Jane Hawley built its five-bay core between 1763 and 1766, and the Shaw Lefevre family enlarged it over the following century; their coat of arms is still carved into the black marble fireplace of the original Dining Room. After a long spell as a corporate training centre, the house was restored over nine years and opened as a hotel in 2018, with 46 bedrooms, a biodynamic Market Garden, an organic Home Farm and The Bothy spa in the grounds.

Eleanor Henson is culinary director, and the cooking runs on what the estate grows. Marle is the light, marble-and-slate main restaurant with its own terrace, and Hearth sits in the old stables, where the kitchen cooks over an open fire and a wood-burning oven. Below ground, a 67-seat screening room with Dolby Atmos sound adjoins a small bar and the wine cellar.

For gatherings, the Assembly Room on the garden floor is the largest space in the house: 220 square metres of terrazzo floor and folding glass doors onto a terrace, seating 100 for dinner or 190 for a reception, with the Card Room beside it as an ante room. The Dining Room seats 26 at one long table under a chandelier of seasonal flowers, and the Glass House, a working greenhouse in the Upper Walled Garden, takes 22. Marle is let only with exclusive use. The house can be taken whole on three terms, from the House and its restaurants alone to the entire estate, with up to 150 guests by day under a marquee on the lawns and 90 staying overnight.