LONDON
RESET IN THE CITY:
LUXURY BEDS, QUIET MORNINGS AND PRIVATE GARDENS AT
ECCLESTON SQUARE HOTEL
BY SAMANTHA READY
T here are London addresses that feel enviable and then there are those that feel discreetly extraordinary. Eccleston Square sits firmly in the latter camp. A perfect square of white stuccoed townhouses, glorious pillar-framed stairwells, glossy black doors and iron railings, it’ s the kind of location you might walk past and wonder who lives behind the façades. For a night, we did.
Eccleston Square Hotel is boutique in scale, but apartment-like in sensibility. Our balcony room was immediately calming with sophisticated pale greys, soft lighting( all remote controlled, of course), floor-toceiling windows and a view directly over the private communal gardens, reminiscent to me of that iconic scene in Notting Hill. In the heart of London, the sight of trees, lawn and dappled sunlight felt a little extra-decadent. Even better, guests are given access to that key, the one that opens the gate to the gardens: one of the rarest privileges in the city( take that, Hugh Grant). Early the next morning, we wandered through the pathways with coffee, our breath catching a little at how serene it was. A moment of London worthy of any blockbuster movie that felt borrowed from a novel.
Our room itself was beautifully considered, sitting on the masculine side of sleekness. A Hästens massage bed- £ 30,000 worth of hand-stitched Swedish craftsmanship
- taking centre stage. It was cloud-soft, adjustable and impossible not to sign into, and that’ s before we even custom chose our massage settings … In fact, every detail has been approached with technical precision: electric curtains, smart glass in the bathroom that turns opaque at a button press, a hidden TV in the mirror, and a mini iPad controlling everything from lighting to concierge. It feels less like a hotel room and more like a discreet Mayfair apartment with helpful buttons.
Eccleston Square Hotel is a period building with an interesting history of residents including Princess Victoria, which has also acted as the P. M. Boys Club- a hostel for young men in the hotel industry in the 1950s- but its heritage has been handled lightly.
94 • www. insidekent. co. uk