A step back in the right direction at
GETAWAYS
A step back in the right direction at
GRAVETYE MANOR BY POLLY HUMPHRIS
For many people( certainly for Remainers, Bowie fans and Democrats, anyway), 2016 was a bit of a dreary year, so the tendency was to search high and low for more – more fuss, more fun, more bells and whistles; anything to dilute the drudgery. I for one will admit falling foul to this, and by mid-December, I was tired and a bit overwhelmed. My saviour? Gravetye Manor. A simple, stripped back combination of romance, beautiful grounds and exquisite dining, I visited the Grand Dame of country house hotels and learnt the very valuable lesson that less is most definitely more.
Sat like some sort of tucked away Wonderland amid West Sussex’ s High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, I could feel the weight of 2016’ s burden drifting away with every metre that I approached Gravetye Manor along its mile-long private drive. Nothing but 1000 acres of wooded parkland and gardens – sublime in summer, but equally enchanting when characterised by clusters of birch trees glistening in the silver shimmer of winter’ s frost – surrounds this manor house, whose Elizabethan edifice stands as a proud testament to its history.
Stepping into the 17-bedroom property, which was completed over four hundred years ago in 1598, is truly like stepping into the 16th-century and my word it’ s refreshing to be transported from a world of smartphones, air con and minimalist décor into one of newspapers, crackling log fires and ornate interiors carved from solid oak. Gravetye Manor is traditional, but not stuffy – of course Wi-Fi is available throughout, although I doubt you’ ll use it, and of course there’ s a flat-screen TV in your room, although I’ d happily bet you won’ t watch it. The first reason you’ ll resist technology’ s time-filling pull? The phenomenal grounds that define Gravetye Manor’ s garden as one of the most historically influential in the country.
Originally planted in 1884 by writer and‘ Father of the English Flower Garden’, William Robinson, the gardens, of which there are 35 acres to explore, are the result of Robinson’ s groundbreaking ideas on a more naturalistic style of wild gardening that he fine-tuned over 50 years at Gravetye. The visual legacy left behind is the very antithesis of suppressed and is instead a natural kingdom that tumbles from busy rhododendron amid the bright pink pop of magnolia, to banks of wild Azaleas and tough perennials that collide to paint a vibrant picture that changes with each season, and wild flower meadows that meander throughout the grounds contrasting beautifully with the ivy-clad formality of their overlooking architecture.
The pièce de résistance for me? The Kitchen Garden; 1.5 acres of the most fruitful soil imaginable, all protected by a 12- foot elliptical sandstone wall and abundant with fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs including Red Ball sprouts, blood red chard and sorrel. Browsing the dinner menu over an expertly made grapefruit Tom Collins that evening, it was clear to see that the relationship between Michelin-starred head chef, George Blogg, and head gardener, Tom Coward is entirely symbiotic. What is grown in the garden is eaten in the restaurant to the incredible tune of 95 per cent and is the fundamental driving force behind Blogg’ s inspiring, seasonal menus.
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