THE COUNTRY ESTATE

Heckfield Place, Hampshire

SITTING ON 400 acres of prime Hampshire countryside, with distant views of Windsor Castle, Heckfield Place could have been purpose-built for international visitors hankering for a taste of life in an English country house. Indeed, as I stepped through the doors of the handsome red-brick main building with my husband and two young kids, we were greeted by staff dressed in Downton Abbey– style attire—bustling underskirts, sensible overgarments, and so on. But the illusion ended there. The uniforms, we discovered, were made by on-trend clothing brand Egg, and Heckfield, which sits a handy 40-minute drive from Heathrow, is about as far from the drafty reality of a country estate as you can get.

Heckfield was built as a private house in 1760, and for most of the 19th century, was home to the illustrious Lefevre family. Sixteen years ago, it was purchased by the Hong Kong–born, Boston-based financier Gerald Chan, who commissioned a painstaking renovation. The building’s original Georgian features, from the floor-to-ceiling patio doors to the ornate ceiling roses, were all carefully restored. But the decor is nonetheless defined by its simplicity and understatement, giving the hotel a distinctly contemporary feel. The walls are finished in rough lime plaster and painted in a muted palette: greens, ochres, and neutrals in the guest wings; greys, a forest green, and a dusky pink in the main house.

In the snug Moon Bar, a vast disco ball twinkles above midnight-blue walls, and a fire sizzles and smokes all day long. Complimentary tea and cake are served in the afternoons, which delighted our children. Chan’s 20th-century British art collection gives the plush public rooms extra warmth, while corn-husk dolls for Do Not Disturb signs and key fobs in the form of embroidery samplers made us feel a little like guests in someone’s extraordinary home.

Skye Gyngell—the chef behind Chan’s London restaurant, Spring, and one of England’s most forward-thinking culinary talents—presides over Heckfield’s two restaurants, Marle and Hearth, ingredients for which are grown at the on-site biodynamic farm. At Hearth, a cosy room with exposed-brick walls and sheepskin-draped Windsor chairs, my husband and I feasted on a five-course tasting menu cooked over an open fire. We ate breakfast and lunch at Marle, a bright, sunny room with an à la carte menu of heritage vegetables and locally sourced organic meats.

The patriarch of the Lefevre family, Viscount Eversley, was a speaker in the House of Commons, and in his day, Heckfield was known for its lively salons and political conversations—a tradition the hotel hopes to maintain in its plush theatre, which has a rolling programme of talks, films, and, events.

The gardens were designed by a visionary named William Wildsmith, who created the estate’s impressive arboretum and two vast ornamental lakes, one of which now has a floating dock guests can use to go wild swimming. The hotel has harnessed his spirit in its skin-care products, Wildsmith, which are made with botanicals grown on the grounds. They are used in Heckfield’s wonderful Little Bothy spa, which is due to be topped off with an indoor pool later this year. Doubles from

` 31,801; heckfieldplace.com.

Above, from left: The entrance to Heckfield Place, which occupies a grand Georgian mansion; Marle, the daytime dining space at the hotel.