Beaverbrook Surrey

If you’re out to establish the quintessential British country-house hotel, you could do a lot worse for raw material than the 400-acre Surrey estate of the 20th-century newspaper baron and wartime minister Lord Beaverbrook. The house itself is a unique one, a Victorian-era Neoclassical mansion, and in its present incarnation, with interiors by Soho House designer Susie Atkinson, it’s nothing short of spectacular — a modern take on the classic country house hotel, with a personality and a point of view unlike any other. The balance with any country-house hotel is to project gravitas without heaviness, and to be warm and welcoming without overdoing the irreverence. An impressive smattering of modern art is balanced against an equally impressive collection of antique objects and furnishings from all over the world; and the hotel’s rooms feel up-to-date without losing touch with their history. The original House is joined by the Garden House and the Coach House, as well as the Village, a few minutes’ drive from the main house, where a handful of cottages stand on the site of what was once workforce housing. This is a first-rate luxury hotel, evident not just in the lavish in-room comforts but in the facilities as well, which range from a spa, indoor pool, and tennis/pickleball/paddle courts to a private cinema, an inventively programmed kids’ club, and various outdoor challenges from the Bear Grylls Survival Academy. Meanwhile no fewer than four restaurants see to guests’ gustatory needs, alongside a pair of cocktail bars for good measure.