Some posh country-house hotels seem to rank children just below an unexploded bomb in terms of welcome. This place is a happy exception. Sitting on a 400-acre estate between Leatherhead and Dorking, it is a jolly reimagining of a Victorian village in dreamy woodland, with 21 bedrooms spread through a quadrant of cottages. Food stays on-message: Mrs Beeton’s Restaurant is inspired by the famous Victorian cook. Guests also have buggies for the five-minute pootle to the impressive restaurants and facilities of sister property The House, once the home of Lord Beaverbrook, the former proprietor of the Daily Express.
Overall score 8/10
Main photo: the Village offers enjoyment for the whole family
Rooms and suites
Score 9/10
The 21 bedrooms are in simple lime-rendered cottages arranged around an airy courtyard guarded by a grand Victorian station-style clock. There’s a central pétanque court for idle afternoons, and summer plans for pop-up food stalls to encourage sociable alfresco dining. Bedroom interiors are decorated in a perky palette of primary colours. The folksy feel is enhanced by vibrantly painted tables with spindle-turned legs, humbug-striped ceramic lamps, chequerboard rugs and more eye-popping checks than you’d see at a line-dancing convention. Kids will adore the integrated bunks that have their own curtains and wall lamps for reading after lights out. The Victorian-lite styling strays into Edwardian for some rooms, but never into cheesiness, with well curated reading matter and art.
Food and drink
Score 7/10
Mrs Beeton’s Restaurant is loosely inspired by Victorian cuisine and while Mum and Dad might warm to the nostalgia hit of fried whiting with tartare sauce, followed by mince and dumplings, the kids will probably be keener on the chip buttie on white sliced and the enormous knickerbocker glories. The room itself dances between Victorian and American diner, with framed prints of Beeton’s recipes and paper placemats that outline ten rules of Victorian dining etiquette (no blowing your nose at the table, natch). But the dining booths in nut brown and pea green, all with a view of the open kitchen, feel more Stateside. As evening falls, the morning’s generous breakfast buffet area is transformed into a pop-up cocktail counter that serves a mean espresso martini.
What else is there?
Score 9/10
You could stay here for a week and not feel bored. There are daily film screenings in the art deco cinema, where Lord Beaverbook and Churchill once watched Pathé war reels. There is an excellent Sharky & George kids’ club based in a woodland treehouse, a well-equipped gym, 20m outdoor and indoor pools, a fabulous spa, badminton, pickleball, padel and tennis courts.
Advertisement
Where is it?
Score 9/10
Just north of the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty: the National Trust site Box Hill is close by if you tire of walking the estate’s 400 acres, while Denbies Wine Estate is around the corner in Dorking. Chessington World of Adventures is a 20-minute drive away, and RHS Wisley Garden is about a 30-minute drive.
Price B&B doubles from £600
Restaurant mains from £16
Family-friendly Y
Dog-friendly Y
Accessible Y
beaverbrook.co.uk
Sign up for the Times Travel Newsletter here.