There aren’t many
hotels whose in-room DVD menu is comprised solely of films shot on site. Luton
Hoo, however, which has served as a backdrop for over a dozen classics, including Four Weddings and a Funeral and
Eyes Wide Shut, can and does.
Set in a five-star oasis in 1,000 acres of parkland
between Luton airport, the M1 and the River Lea and a mere 30 miles north of
central London, this family pile-turned-hotel is heaving with history. The
Mansion House was built in the 1760s. Enlarged and remodelled over the
centuries, it was bought in 1903 by a diamond magnate, and played a bit part in
many 20th-century goings-on: Edward VII and Wallis Simpson visited in 1936, the
Queen and Prince Philip honeymooned there in 1947, and Winston Churchill picked
it as a rally spot for 100,000 supporters in 1948. So capacious are its grounds
that a fleet of London cabs ferries guests around.
The main house has 35 suites
and bedrooms, of varying sizes and styles and decorated in keeping with the
original. There are a further 109 rooms in the Parkland wing, the Old Stables
(which houses the spa, gym and country club), and the conference complex,
Warren Weir Suite, in one of which I was staying.
Check-in was
swift and I was shown my room with commentary en route provided by Zena
Dickinson, the hotel’s resident historian, who came to Luton Hoo to work for
the Philips family in 1985.
The décor in my
room was understated but luxurious – simple beige sofas, smaller curtain
tassels and pleasantly mismatched antiques instead of dull samey hotel
furniture. The effect was to give one the feeling of staying in a country
house, rather than a hotel – a pleasant change.
For sybarites the spa offers a
range of facials, massages and body treatments, some of which use an organic
range of spa products inspired by the plants in the garden of Luton Hoo. These
include products that have delicate natural aromas of geranium, bay leaf and
witch hazel – some of which are Soil Association accredited. There's also two indoor swimming pools and
fitness studios (one of each in the Warren Weir complex and the Country Club). For outdoor
pursuits there’s tennis courts and the 18-hole golf course, or the hotel can
organise fishing, clay pigeon shooting, archery, cross-bow or cycling.
If you’ve worked up a hunger,
there’s plenty of options for sustenance, from the more formal Wernher
Restaurant (gents must wear jackets) to Adam’s Brasserie, which is more relaxed
and will appeal to golfers with its hearty meals and proximity to the 19th Bar.
Guests are an admixture of businessmen,
golfers, couples on luxury breaks, and day-tripping pensioners attracted by the
hotel's National Trust-style magnificence and the £24.50 afternoon teas.
Luton Hoo Hotel, Golf & Spa, The Mansion House,
Luton, Bedfordshire, LU1 3TQ; tel. 01582 734437; www.lutonhoo.co.uk
