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Tue212007
Five hotel retreats around London

Somewhere for the weekend
Five hotel retreats around London


So: you live in London and you're looking for somewhere to spend the weekend. Perhaps you want to celebrate a birthday or anniversary, or simply think it's about time you and your partner spent some quality time together. Or maybe - and we're told it happens - you're looking for somewhere that will impress that new passion in your life. The trick is to find the right place, somewhere that's guaranteed to tick all the right boxes: great food, great location, great romantic potential, total relaxation. Below you'll find five hotels within easy reach of London that we guarantee will fit the bill. Just click on the links to order further information before making your final choice.

Ever since the film of Bridget Jones' Diary, Stoke Park Club near Stoke Poges has become almost de rigueur for a weekend away. Stoke Park has got the lot: a stunning building with gorgeous five star accommodation, cuisine to match, the lake on which Bridget and Cleaver went rowing, and 27 holes of great golf. Not just any old golf course either: if you're usually not that keen it probably won't help that this is one of the world's top 100 courses. However, the fact that this is the course where Sean Connery's Bond triumphed over Goldfinger might just have you slipping into the Pringle faster than you can say 'Ah, Moneypenny'. And if even that doesn't get you hacking away at the sacred turf, the fabulous spa is the perfect place to while away the hours.

Speaking of spas, there are those for whom the height of sensual pleasure is a weekend attending to the outward form. Generally we've noted that this tendency seems to divide on gender lines, with the ladies for and chaps against. This can create difficulties, but at Champneys Tring there's no danger of committing anyone to a weekend of carrots and cabbage water. The food is well-balanced and healthy of course, but varied and delicious, and there's no problem ordering a decent bottle or two to accompany it. The accommodation is luxurious, and there are 170 acres of grounds in which to wander and relax. It's the health and beauty treatments, however, that are the real point of Champneys, and they really are second to none.

And speaking of tradition, a weekend by the sea is the hot break par excellence. There's an endless variety of hotels offering a seaside experience, but in our view nothing to match the imperial splendour of The Grand at Eastbourne. Outside, it's the classic white 'wedding cake' facing out over the briny: inside all is gilt, glass, and brass, including the Palm Court and spacious five-star accommodation. Choose a room with a private balcony and watch the sun go down over the waves, with old-school service at your beck and call and your bedroom at your back. Built in 1875, over the years The Grand has welcomed guests as distinguished as Charlie Chaplin, Sir Edward Elgar, and Sir Winston Churchill, as well as a quite extraordinary number of married couples called Smith.

For history of another sort we can recommend Hartwell House Hotel, Restaurant and Spa, handily placed a short jog up the M40 near Aylesbury. Hartwell is a member of Historic House Hotels, which do exactly what they say on the tin: they take a historic house, and turn it into a hotel. In this case the hotel has stronger historic claims than most, as it's where Louis XVIII set up his court in exile during his difference of opinion with the French people in the early eighteenth century. Accustomed to a life of luxury, he chose well, and there's no let-up in creature comforts in the house's current incarnation. Chef Daniel Richardson serves up dishes fit to grace the stunning elegance of the dining room, the bedrooms are both historic and immensely stylish, and the interiors throughout are an architectural historian's - and weekend escaper's - dream. There's also a terrific spa, of course, and delightful grounds in which to stroll.

However, if even a short drive up the motorway seems too much of a bother, how about a weekend in London itself? Weird and utterly wonderful, Blakes Hotel in Kensington established the benchmark for the small luxury hotel when it was first opened by Anouska Hempel, and it's been at the top of the game ever since. Jealously protecting the privacy of its clients against the paparazzi, it's the London base of choice for numerous film stars, musicians and top designers, but discretion is just one of its claims to fame. The location, a short walk from the shops of Knightsbridge and Sloane Street, does it no harm, but it's the extraordinary opulence and individuality of the decor and immaculate service that really make it stand out. Why pay to spend a weekend in London, you might ask? Well, if you can get everything Blakes has to offer at home, you're a lucky person indeed, and a bit odd with it. Everyone should experience this magical place at least once in their life: why should we capital dwellers be denied the pleasure?