Venues in West Sussex
Chichester, Goodwood, Midhurst and the South Downs: country houses, downland estates and sporting country in West Sussex.
Gravetye Manor
West Sussex — Hotel
Up to 90 guests
A 1598 Sussex manor with William Robinson's gardens, a MICHELIN-starred dining room and panelled private rooms for up to 22, or the whole house let exclusively.
Goodwood House
West Sussex — Country House
Up to 180 guests
The Dukes of Richmond's seat on the Goodwood estate, with a portrait-hung Ballroom seating 180 and a gilded Egyptian Dining Room.
Amberley Castle
West Sussex — Hotel
A medieval castle hotel below the South Downs, let whole for private celebrations, with a Norman Great Room and a vaulted restaurant inside its walls.
Leonardslee House & Gardens
West Sussex — Hotel
Up to 100 guests
An 1855 Italianate house in 240 acres of Grade I listed gardens, let whole for the weekend and home to Michelin-starred Restaurant Interlude.
Stansted House & Park
West Sussex — Country House
Up to 200 guests
The Earls of Bessborough's Edwardian house on a 2,000-acre South Downs estate, let for private parties: dinner for 30, a reception for 150, dancing for 200.
Ockenden Manor
West Sussex — Hotel
Up to 150 guests
An Elizabethan manor at the edge of Cuckfield, let whole with 27 bedrooms, or opened for dinners in its oak-panelled Burrell Suite.
Cowdray House
West Sussex — Country House
Up to 150 guests
A Grade II listed house on the 16,000-acre Cowdray Estate, let whole with 22 bedrooms and dinner for 150 under the vaulted roof of Buck Hall.
THE PIG in the South Downs
West Sussex — Hotel
A Georgian house above Arundel with the group's first vineyard, a cookbook-lined Garden Room seating 24 and a round table in the old wine cellar.
South Lodge
West Sussex — Hotel
Up to 180 guests
An 1880s country house in 93 acres near Horsham, with a Michelin-starred kitchen table, a chandeliered 130-seat Gladstone suite and whole-house exclusive use.
The Kennels, Goodwood
West Sussex — Members' Club
Up to 100 guests
James Wyatt's 1787 hound kennels, now Goodwood's members' clubhouse, hired without membership: a Penguin-lined Music Room, a sporting Library and a canopied Putting Green for 100.
Bailiffscourt Hotel & Spa
West Sussex — Hotel
Up to 100 guests
A 1920s Guinness family house built to look medieval, taken whole on the Sussex coast: 39 bedrooms, a 13th-century chapel and 30 acres of parkland to the sea.
/ About West Sussex▾
Chichester was a Roman city before it was a cathedral city. Building began on the Norman cathedral in 1075 and it was consecrated in 1108; the tower and spire collapsed in 1861 and were rebuilt under Sir George Gilbert Scott. North of the city, the 1st Duke of Richmond bought Goodwood in 1697 to hunt with the Charlton Hunt. The first public race meeting there took place in 1802, and the motor circuit was the centre of British motor racing between 1948 and 1966. At Midhurst stand the ruins of Cowdray, an early Tudor house largely destroyed by fire in September 1793. The downland around all three became the South Downs National Park in 2010.
West Sussex lets its country in three forms. Family houses and downland estates are let whole, with exclusive use of the house, the gardens and the bedrooms. Sporting estates let an occasion sit beside the racing and motoring calendar. Country-house hotels sell private dining and function rooms with their own kitchens and guest rooms. Capacity follows the largest room indoors and the grounds outside: a house dining room may seat a few dozen, while a marquee in a park takes a summer party into the hundreds. Private houses generally bring catering in, which lengthens the lead time.
Chichester is served by Southern trains from London Victoria. The journey averages a little under two hours, and the fastest trains take around an hour and a half. Goodwood and Midhurst lie inland and are reached by road, with the A3 the usual drive south from London, so an evening that runs past dinner ends with a car or a room for the night. A coach from one London pick-up, or rooms close by, settles the journey before the invitations go out.