House at Beaverbrook: the slick new country house hotel you should book for autumn

Angus Taylor
Angus Taylor

As summer draws to a close, it’s that time of the year when we start plotting weekends away in the countryside with plump four poster beds, nightcaps by the fire and long, lung-blasting long walks.

But instead of making a beeline for the Cotswolds, you should look a lot closer to the capital for your next luxury break.

Press baron Lord Beaverbrook’s grand Surrey estate has been transformed - at a cost of £90 million - into the classic British bolthole where design and history collide with great effect.

Just 19 miles from London, the House at Beaverbrook is set in 400 acres of rolling fields and manicured gardens. It used to welcome illustrious guests in its heyday such as Winston Churchill, Ian Fleming and Rudyard Kipling – and now its 18 rooms have been named after them.

Designed by Susie Atkinson, the interiors guru behind many Soho House properties, the hotel packed with jewel tones, rich fabrics and heritage.

As well as beautiful bedrooms with four posters and freestanding baths, there’s a cutting-edge Japanese restaurant that comes via Chelsea, an Art Deco cinema, a Golden Age-inspired bar called the Parrot and a cookery school. By the end of the year, these will be joined by a spa complete with swimming pools, hammam and sauna.

The Ian Fleming Room (Angus Taylor)
The Ian Fleming Room (Angus Taylor)

The Parrot Bar is what guests are most likely to Instagram – think teal velvet bar stools, millennial pink walls, a brass bar to draw the eye and a smattering of tropical prints.

The Parrot Bar (Angus Taylor)
The Parrot Bar (Angus Taylor)

Rooms from £280, Beaverbrook, Reigate Road, Leatherhead, Surry, KT22 8QX; beaverbrook.co.uk

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