C&TH GREAT BRITISH & IRISH HOTELS ABOVE & BELOW: The (very) long-awaited Heckfield House finally opens for business this autumn
New faces Like a champagne tap that never turns off, there seems to be no end to the constant stream of gorgeous, desirable new hotels opening in the UK, says Fiona Duncan
O
nly time can tell which upcoming addresses will turn out to be disappointing and which will become classics of their kind. Twenty years ago this summer, to take one example of the latter, Olga Polizzi opened Hotel Tresanton in the seaside town of St Mawes (p49). Fashioned from a rambling former yacht club, it has indeed become a classic, as sparkling now as it was when it first opened with a flourish. Which of the many hotels set to open in the next few months will achieve the same status? Here are the ones that look, to me, the most likely. Some will have opened by the time you read this; others, in the way of new openings, will have announced yet another long delay. Talking of delay, if there’s a prize for that then Heckfield Place (heckfieldplace.com) wins hands-down. It was back in 2012 that billionaire Gerald Chan announced the imminent opening of this Hampshire Georgian country house, a former wedding venue and training centre set in a 400-acre estate, as a 70-bedroom luxury hotel and spa. Since then, there have been further false starts and numerous staff, including general managers and executive chefs, have come and gone. Now, at last, its autumn opening seems assured, with ex-Aman Olivia Richli as GM and Skye Gyngell as culinary director. Designed by Ben Thompson, it aims at being a ‘living place, resolutely natural…a country haven with a progressive vision and an antidote to the modern world where guests can connect with each other and nature…a place of intrinsic beauty where extraordinary things can happen’. Gosh. If it’s all it’s cracked up to be, it will certainly give Lime Wood (p79, another young hotel that’s already become a classic) a run for its money. Let’s hope it’s worth the long, long wait… the runes are good.
Oscar Wilde would not have quibbled at all these delays. The man who said ‘I am always late on principle, my principle being that punctuality is the thief of time’ is recalled in two imminent London hotels. At Belmond Cadogan (belmond. com), a multi-million pound refurbishment of the much-loved Cadogan Hotel on Sloane Street preserves the style of the 1887 building, but threads it with quiet contemporary luxury. GA Design International have created an interior inspired by the hotel’s history and the personalities associated with it, amongst them Sir Hans Sloane, Lillie Langtry and Oscar himself, for it was here that he was arrested in 1895. I have high hopes for a classic in the making. Over in the somewhat unlikely setting of a former Baroque style Baptist Church, albeit one with fine proportions and a soaring octagonal chapel, French interior designer Jacques Garcia has indulged his passion for Oscar Wilde without
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