Heckfield Place
Heckfield Place, a luxury hotel in Hampshire, took almost 10 years to open in its current state, and with good reason! The Georgian mansion feels cosy and homely whilst still being luxurious and contemporary, and the grounds span over 400 acres and include two lakes, a farm, a dairy, greenhouses and a pool house (which is due to open in September)! The attention to detail is truly incredible, from the homemade cordials using herbs from the garden to the staff cleaning your wellies the moment you take them off, I really can’t fault Heckfield Place!
THE HOTEL
The first glimpse of the house as you drive up to it is unforgettable. The staff are incredibly attentive and were there to greet us the moment we arrived. When you enter and see the grand staircase and chandelier, as well as the big glass doors leading onto the lakes and 400 acres of land, you’ll be truly lost for words! Every room in Heckfield Place has been carefully thought out and designed, from the drawing room which has incredibly comfy sofas that you can sink into to the private dining room which has incredible flower displays and huge glass windows looking out onto the estate!
There is also a large cinema underneath the hotel where they have viewings of old movies every other evening. There is a spa in the hotel (just for treatments!) but the pool hadn’t opened yet when I visited (a great reason to go again!) – the pool building will be all glass (including the ceiling!) and will house an infinity pool looking over the fields!
THE FOOD
Heckfield Place has two restaurants: Marle and Hearth. Hearth was my favourite for lunch as it has a wood fire and pizza oven where you can see the chefs preparing the food. The menu is focused on the freshest seasonal ingredients, with around half of them being sourced from the Heckfield farm. The food was really spectacular – you can’t beat simple cooking methods that make the ingredients the star of the show!
We started with the burrata with roasted artichokes and spigarello (similar to tenderstem brocolli). This was absolutely divine – the caramelised artichokes, crunchy greens and creamy burrata were an incredible combination and one that I can’t wait to try at home!
We moved onto the wild garlic risotto and the wood roasted lemon sole with brown butter and capers, which were both delicious! We decided not to have dessert as at 4pm every day, there is tea and homemade cake served in the drawing room (one of the many highlights of the stay)!
Breakfast is included in your stay and is served in Marle: a large restaurant with big glass windows, lots of plants and a greenhouse roof on one side. With the sun streaming in and a three course breakfast, this was the best way to start our day!
There are plenty of options for breakfast, which again is focused on the best ingredients from local suppliers and the Heckfield farm. We started with homemade sourdough and banana rye bread with a selection of homemade spreads, including rhubarb vanilla jam and hazelnut butter, both of which were heavenly (and I had to ask for more, which I polished off)!
With rhubarb being in season, I ordered the rhubarb ripple yoghurt with granola which was creamy and slightly tart, just the way I like it! I then had the scrambled eggs on sourdough with a side of avocado! The scrambled eggs were some of the best I’ve ever had – creamy, sumptuous and buttery! The organic eggs were from the Heckfield farm and we asked if we could take some home with us as they were so amazing!
THE GROUNDS AND THE FARM
With 400 acres of land, you can explore the estate to your hearts content! I loved walking around the farm and seeing where all the fresh vegetables and herbs are grown! We also visited the dairy where the farmer kindly showed us how the golden Guernsey cows are milked and explained to us that it is the first ’round house’ dairy in the country which is better for the animal welfare! Every morning at 10am there is a woodland tour (or something similar) where one of the groundsmen shows you around the grounds and talks you through the different types of trees (of which there are many!) and the stories behind them! It was really incredible to see how much work goes into maintaining the grounds and to hear about the history of Heckfield Place!
