STAY & PLAY

Manor of Groves Par 71, 6,197 yards

This three-star hotel in Sawbridgeworth lies 20 minutes from Stansted. The grand Georgian manor house was restored and converted into a hotel in the late 1980s and early 1990s and now boasts 80 rooms plus a leisure club.

Food is served in La Brasserie restaurant, The Atrium bar or the Viewing Gallery golf lounge.

The golf course opened in 1991 and plays either side of a narrow country lane. The opening trio and holes 13-18 play over more open terrain up and down a relatively gentle slope. This is where you’ll find the longer par 4s and the two par 5s. The 4th to 12th weave around the entrance drive the other side of the lane, and things are a little tighter and more thought-provoking here, with a series of short par 4s testing accuracy far more than length.