With the birth of their first baby only weeks away, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex took the opportunity to escape to the English countryside for a short break recently. Harry and Meghan reportedly stayed at the five-star Heckfield Place hotel in Hook, Hampshire, an 18th-century Georgian mansion that has welcomed several celebrities in recent times.
The manor has now been converted to a hotel since 2018, but its staff dress in period costume. It has 45 rooms and suites, and Harry and Meghan are believed to have stayed in the Long Room, which comes with its own dining room and private terraces and costs £10,000 ($13,080) per night. The manor is set in 480 acres, and the royal couple is said to have walked around the grounds, which have two lakes, an arboretum, walled gardens, terraces and lawns.
While the manor has two in-house restaurants run by Michelin-starred Vogue food editor and restaurateur, Skye Gyngell, Harry and Meghan dined in their room instead. All of the food is homemade and an organic farm with over 400 fruit trees has been created to supply Heckfield.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex in New Zealand. Image: Pool/Samir Hussein/WireImage
While at the manor, Harry and Meghan could have availed of the Screening Room, which offers a curated programme of films, documentaries, live screenings and film festivals. With Meghan nearing the end of her pregnancy, she could have availed of the restorative treatments offered at The Little Bothy spa, or checked out the Bodyism movement studio, with its range of yoga and Pilates classes.
The hotel’s famous connections go back to 1794, when Jane Austen’s mother wrote a poem about her daughter not being invited to a dinner party at the manor house. More recently, Liv Tyler and Cara and Poppy Delevingne stayed there while attending Princess Eugenie’s wedding to Jack Brooksbank.
For further information on Heckfield Place, please see here.
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