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IF ambience makes the heart grow fonder, to paraphrase the Bard, you'll fall head over heels when you see Castle Combe. On the periphery of the Cotswolds near Bath, this quintessentially English village, for long acclaimed as the prettiest in the land, will leave you with senses soothed and your soul at peace.
That’s not all, though: Wander down the narrow main street, edged by houses of honey-hued Cotswold stone, and opposite the village pub you’ll spot the driveway that leads to the Manor House Hotel. Investigate and you’ll lose your heart at first sight. Stay there and you’ll itch to return.
Here’s a historic country house that will renew fond memories of uncompromising standards, an hotel par excellence where no detail is too small to be overlooked. Elegant informality and sheer good taste are rampant and the ambience will knock your socks off!
It doesn’t end there, either! It has a golf course that will have your eyeballs standing out like chapel hat pegs. If you’ve a special occasion in prospect, an anniversary perhaps, or are simply seeking a romantic hotel with first rate golf and every accoutrement, then look no further. There are very few of such quality in the UK. It is an irresistible combination.
THE Manor of Castle Combe, originally a vast country estate, is mentioned in the Domesday Book and, in historical terms, it is second only to Stonehenge in the pantheon of English history. The original castle, the fore-runner to the present country house, was built in the time of Henry I, the 13th Century.
Much of the present building is of 14th Century origins and though it retains a mediaeval ambience and structural appearance, with a veritable warren of corridors and stairways winding between foot-thick stone walls with mullioned windows, it is the epitome of modern luxury. All style and heaps of substance, you might say.
The guest rooms, with four poster beds and arched beamed ceilings, are sumptuous in décor and furnishings; the bathrooms, the pointer to all great hotels, are peerless. When you spot the welcome bottle of champagne on ice your initial impulse might be to lock the door and hide the key, content to indulge romantic inclinations and view the blissful setting that stretches out beyond your windows. But that would be to ignore the myriad outdoor facilities on offer: bicycles, woodland walks, fly fishing, tennis, golf…
The frontal elevation overlooks an expanse of lawn that’s home to a paved terrace with furniture for al fresco cocktails, a croquet pitch, a large putting green and an area set aside for open air concerts, all with a backdrop of ancient trees overlooking the River Bybrook.
Wild life abounds: deer are a common sight; heron may be spotted stalking the brown trout that populate the gurgling river. On the other side of the house the guest room windows give views of ornamental Italian gardens and rockeries with open countryside beyond. Idyllic is an ineffectual adjective here. Artists and photographers would go quite potty.
The hotel has 22 de luxe rooms on two floors with a further 26 in nearby cottages, once used to house staff but now luxuriously appointed. The hotel has seven lounges of various sizes, for quiet contemplation, chess or reading, and most have a mediaeval-sized stone fireplace, continuously active and giving out an appealing aroma of burning logs to enhance the ambience and the welcome from the ever-present staff.
“There are 120 of the blighters,” the hotel’s handbook states, tongue-in-cheek. Consider that the maximum occupancy is 92 and one can rationalise the attentive service that starts with your car being chauffeur-parked upon arrival and your golf clubs whisked into storage. As your tee time approaches you’ll be presented with a golf cart, cleaned clubs on-board, for the five minute drive to the golf clubhouse. It’s all disarmingly civilised.
In by-gone times the estate covered much of the surrounding countryside but death duties and other vicissitudes have reduced it to 365 acres, including the golf course. The mansion, the country seat of the Gorte family for many generations, became an hotel in 1949 and was acquired by the present owners, Exclusive Hotels, in 1981. The golf course was originally a separate entity as a private club but re-joined the fold in 1994. The two properties were re-branded as the Manor House Hotel & Golf Club in 2004 and have become a major attraction on the corporate golf circuit as well as the booming short breaks market. It’s an alluring prospect for the discerning golfer.
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