From a seaside chic hotel offering meditation, astrology and yoga to country manors fit for royalty, discover the best places to stay in Sussex for a stylish - and romantic - mini break
To The Manor Born
South Lodge Hotel & Spa, Horsham, West Sussex
Set among 93 acres of park and woodland overlooking the South Downs, South Lodge offers the ultimate in luxurious country living – a fascinating history, the finest dining and plenty of pampering in the spa.
It has the largest Rhododendron Arboreum in England – heavenly with their intoxicating, spicy scent – and was a favourite of Winston Churchill who regularly visited when he was Prime Minister. Walk along a corridor from the Billiard Bar to the Sussex Wing and you’ll see where a lift used to take him up to the Elizabeth Le Bay room.
The Victorian 89-bedroom country home was used as a hospital during World War II and opened as a five-star hotel in 1985. It still boasts the original embossed wallpapers, giant fireplaces and bronze pillars. Look up and you’ll see ceilings decorated with fleur-del-lis, and Tudor rose moulds, while the walls are lined with 18th century oil portraits.
If you want to play lord and lady of the manor there’s croquet, tennis, a bar and three restaurants; The Camellia, which serves seasonal country dining, the Mediterranean-influenced Botanica and The Pass which currently has chef Greg Clarke in residence. He has worked in some of the UK’s best Michelin-starred restaurants and has a passion for foraging the best of the British larder to bring to the table.
The bedrooms have four poster beds, hot tubs on some of the balconies, and oversized showers – but it’s the 44,000 sq ft state-of-the-art spa that steals the show.
Along with an infinity pool, a wild swimming pool (try it if you dare), gym spin studio, thermal suite and outdoor hydrotherapy pool, there are treatments offering a range of soothing treatments ensuring you return home totally relaxed.
THE DETAILS: Prices start at £415 per room per night. Guests are welcome to join in daily fitness classes, relax in the spa thermal spaces, or go for an invigorating dip in the wild swimming pool outdoors.
www.exclusive.co.uk/south-lodge
Be Happy
The Gallivant, Camber Sands, East Sussex
Sand between your toes. Wind in your hair. Champagne on ice and rooms oozing coastal charm in an award-winning boutique hotel – there's a reason The Gallivant makes guests happy.
Nestled on Camber Sands, one of Britain’s most unspoilt beaches, and brilliant for beachcombing, windsurfing and making sandcastles, as well as running up its Dunes, this 20-room bijou retreat even boasts a mini spa.
Now – along with locally sourced and exceptionally delicious dishes made with ingredients gathered from the surrounding land and sea – there’s even more to smile about during a stay in one of the seaside-chic rooms ranging in size from a Snug Cabin, to a Baby Hampton or a Luxury Garden.
The Gallivant is launching a three-day weekend ‘event’ from 28 – 30 January called The Happiness Experience with top wellness experts and yoga/meditation teachers, the first of a curated series of Wellness Events.
This ‘holistic hospitality’ staycation offers three days of yoga, meditation, astrology, wild swimming and Ayurveda at the hotel. Experts include author and health coach Mira Manek, who will be sharing the benefits of daily Ayurvedic rituals, well-known astrologer Francesca Oddie, who writes for the Evening Standard and Elle, and will be sharing the important astrological dates in 2022 for health and happiness, and Adam Martin, creator of the acclaimed GABA Podcast who mixes immersive soundscape design with storytelling, and will be leading guided meditation.
If that’s not enough the hotel has Peloton cycling, English wine tasting and beauty treatments in the Beach Hut mini spa. The seaside holiday vibe will have you grinning and coming back for more.
THE DETAILS: Places at the first Happiness Experience event are limited to 20 people and costs between £1,255 to £1,695 per person, based on single occupancy. This Includes two night’s accommodation, all food, refreshment stations, daily yoga and meditation, expert led wellness workshops and an exclusive Experience Happiness Gift Bag worth £150. www.thegallivant.co.uk
Beyond The Garden
Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens, Horsham, West Sussex
Gardeners rejoice! As well as admiring the Grade 1 listed garden at the 19th century Italianate-style Leonardslee House near Horsham, in the heart of the West Sussex countryside, those who love a bit of horticulture will now be able to stay in one of the newly-opened 10 rooms.
Following one of the largest garden restorations in England – and possibly in Europe – the bespoke accommodation, filled with locally sourced furniture and antiques to reduce any environmental impact, and with their sumptuous Instagram-worthy designs, are just as magnificent.
If the 1855 Grade II listed house wasn’t enough of a draw already, sitting at it does on top of a valley with a panoramic view of those gardens, the chance to stay over and sample the Michelin-starred dining and enjoy a wine tasting will be.
Feast on a multi-course tasting menu in Michelin star restaurant Interlude, created by executive chef Jean Delport who uses local, seasonal ingredients, sip wine from the owner’s South African sister property, and walk through the 240-acre gardens which have an exhibition The Walk Of Life by contemporary artist Anton Smit. Along with seven lakes there’s also a rare colony of wild wallabies to capture on camera.
The gardens were created after Victorian plant collector Sir Edmund Loder bought the Leonardslee estate in 1889. It’s taken until now to introduce the overnight accommodation on the first floor.
Overseen by owner Penny Streeter, and Johnson Park interiors, each room features the fabric and wallpaper style of a British design house, with a focus on artisan composition and sustainability.
There’s the romantic Magnolia suite by Lewis & Wood with a freestanding nickel tub, and others with marble bathrooms, vintage chandeliers and canopied beds. Divine!
THE DETAILS: From £350, B&B (breakfast basket), leonardsleegardens.co.uk
A Royal Room A View
Amberley Castle, Amberley, West Sussex
There aren’t many hotels that can boast a portcullis that is lowered every night to keep you safe within its 60ft high curtain walls. But at Amberley Castle, known locally as the ‘Pearl of Sussex’, a stay in this 900-year-old fortress is fit for a king and queen.
That’s no surprise given that at least four British monarchs have stayed here.
Mentioned in the Domesday Book, the castle has a twin-gated tower, four-poster beds, suits of armour that stand to attention, throne-like chairs, intricate coats of arms seemingly everywhere you look and antiques brought together by its owners, the Brownsword family.
Dinner is eaten in the 12th century Queen’s Room, where a three-course lunch is presented in front of an open fire under a barrel-vaulted ceiling while a mural shows King Charles II and Queen Catherine of Braganza hunting in nearby Arundel or Parham Park.
After dinner, join a fascinating tour of the castle, built on the land given to Bishop Wilfred by Caedwalla, King of Wessex, in 683AD. In 1643 Oliver Cromwell sent a general to attack it, and along with a chunk of the walls, he destroyed the Great Hall. A brick and timber manor house was later built out of the ruins within the castle walls.
Stay in one of the 19 bespoke rooms, featuring mullioned stone windows with contemporary bathrooms. Every room is named after a Sussex castle or early bishop, while two, Herstmonceux and Pevensey, uniquely embrace the castle’s history and character with private access to the portcullis and its machinery.
Stroll in the gardens, and see resident white peacocks Bob and Lily, play tennis, croquet or try your luck on the 18 hole putting course.
With the South Downs on the doorstep you’ll be in great company. Amberley Castle has been used exclusively by royalty, politicians and VIPs throughout its history - Henry VIII visited the site in 1526, while Queen Elizabeth II visited as a teenager in the 1940s. More recently, it was the location where Holly Willoughby tied the knot in 2007.
THE DETAILS: Double rooms at Amberley Castle start from £195 per night, two sharing and including breakfast. www.amberleycastle.co.uk
