Alexander House Hotel

There’s nothing quite like a country house hotel; and maybe we’ve simply seen Gosford Park one time too many, but for us, there’s nothing quite like a Thirties country house. The Alexander House, in origin, dates back to the eighteenth century, but it was redesigned in the interwar period, and to this day there’s something delightfully Woosteresque about the place.

More to the point, though it’s less than an hour from much of London, around fifteen minutes from Gatwick, once you’re installed on its hundred-odd acres of parkland you’re well and truly away from it all. The rooms start out generously sized before stretching out into extravagantly, enormously and then laughably large — the Garden Master Suite in the Cedar Lodge (a contemporary addition) somehow makes the word “master” seem an understatement.

Two fine restaurants add to the Alexander House’s appeal, as do the rather stylish champagne bar and acre upon acre of al fresco events space — they do a fair bit of wedding business, and it’s no wonder. And then there’s the spa. If we’re being pedantic (and we typically are), it’s part of the definition of “utopia” that it’s a place that doesn’t exist; the hotel’s Utopia Spa, given the choice between linguistic accuracy and a tangible, earthly manifestation, wisely takes the second option.