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Luxury Stay at Lucknam Park Hotel

Henry Hopwood-Phillips and Miss Daynes play Lord and Lady of Lucknam Park for a weekend. Lucknam Park is a five-star hotel located in Wiltshire, about an hour and a half drive from London. It is housed in a 17th century Palladian mansion set on 500 acres of land. The couple enjoys the luxury amenities of the hotel such as a welcoming gift of truffles in their suite. They dine at the Michelin starred on-site restaurant, trying dishes such as duck foie gras and grilled mullet. While most dishes are excellent, the lamb is slightly overcooked. They also debate theological matters over champagne in the grounds and receive excellent service from staff,

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7 views1 page

Luxury Stay at Lucknam Park Hotel

Henry Hopwood-Phillips and Miss Daynes play Lord and Lady of Lucknam Park for a weekend. Lucknam Park is a five-star hotel located in Wiltshire, about an hour and a half drive from London. It is housed in a 17th century Palladian mansion set on 500 acres of land. The couple enjoys the luxury amenities of the hotel such as a welcoming gift of truffles in their suite. They dine at the Michelin starred on-site restaurant, trying dishes such as duck foie gras and grilled mullet. While most dishes are excellent, the lamb is slightly overcooked. They also debate theological matters over champagne in the grounds and receive excellent service from staff,

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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Great British Escape:

To the manor
Henry Hopwood-Phillips and Miss Daynes play Lord and Lady of Lucknam Park for a weekend

estled away in the Wiltshire countryside near Bath, just one-and-a-half hours drive down the M4, is one of only 92 five star AA listed hotels in England. The journey may take a little longer if, like my partner Miss Daynes, you decide to take shortcuts via lampposts and drystone walls; nevertheless you shall have the added advantage of improving the odds on your arrival in one piece. Once a humble farmhouse, the 17th century saw a series of colourful dynasties build what has become a Palladian mansion boasting a pillared portico, bowed wings and iron gates in a sea of 500 acres: a country house grand enough to count Queen Mary amongst its visitors. Diving straight into our suite and the box of truffles resting on top of an Alice and Wonderland note welcoming us, our first experiment with a very efficient room service involved a bottle of Henriot. Before long we found ourselves drifting from the oak-panelled library to the very Georgian drawing room and a terrific view of the sunset. Our arrival at the Michelin starred Park restaurant was heralded by a toasty-noted bottle of Billecart-Salmon Sous Bois, which sat ready to pop as our bottoms dropped. We plumped, in the end, for the gourmet menu. Not that there had been much understanding why on my part. There seems to be an inverse relationship between the price of items on menus and your ability to understand them. Perhaps theres been a misunderstanding and customers actually pay for French words (velout, confit, gribiche and the like) rather than the definite act

of degustation. Linguistic quibbles aside, the assiette left one slavering for the bona fide courses. Themselves a game of two halves, the duck foie gras with poached pear and chamomile jelly was exceptional. The grilled mullet and tiger prawn, well balanced. However, the lamb was slightly overcooked and lacked any powerful accompaniment. And though our wonderful sommelier Damien, and a course of cheese, were on hand to rescue affairs, the lemon pre-dessert jarred. Although nice, it was a squib compared to the dramatic cadence begged for by the earlier dishes. A lack of cigars after dinner was also surprising. I like the air of pomposity they bestow and I suspect other guests do too. Nevertheless, we found an outhouse out on the grounds where punctual and polite staff brought out another bottle of bubbly which we used to debate theological matters last disputed with such vehemence in the late fifth century. A body clock with a sense of humour ensured that I repaired across the courtyard to an English breakfast at an ungodly hour. And despite a failed booking on the spas system (the hotel and spa are separate entities); I was impressed by the staffs ability to fit us in at a moments notice. The slightly deferred physical respite eased a hangover that suggested the proper unit of champagne is glasses, not bottles. Room prices range from 275-935 Lucknam Park Hotel & Spa, Wiltshire, SN14 8AZ 01225 742 777 ([Link])

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