Chewton Glen Hotel & Spa

About Chewton Glen Hotel & Spa

Chewton Glen sits in around 130 acres of parkland and gardens on the south-western edge of the New Forest, a short drive from New Milton and about ten minutes from the sea at Highcliffe. The house has been a hotel since the 1960s and is a member of Relais & Chateaux, and it remains one of the very few genuinely five-star properties in this part of Hampshire. The approach through the drive, the lawns and the cedar trees sets the tone: this is a large, formal country house that has been run as a hotel long enough to know exactly what it is doing.

There are around 70 rooms and suites, split between the main house and the grounds. The house rooms are traditional in feel, with heavy fabrics, marble bathrooms and views over the gardens or the parkland. The best known accommodation, though, is the collection of treehouse suites set back in the woodland above a stream. Each has a wood-burning stove, a private terrace with a hot tub, and breakfast delivered to the room through a hatch so nobody has to be seen before they are ready.

The spa is one of the largest attached to any country house hotel in southern England, with a 17-metre indoor pool, hydrotherapy pool, sauna, steam room, a full gym and a long treatment list. Outside there is a heated open-air pool, tennis courts, a nine-hole par-three golf course and a croquet lawn. Dining is split between the main restaurant, which holds three AA rosettes, and The Kitchen, a more relaxed all-day space with a cookery school attached that runs classes for guests and non-residents.

It suits couples marking an anniversary, groups booking a spa break, and families who want somewhere with enough space and activity to keep children occupied. Rates are high and the treehouses in particular command a premium, but the grounds, the spa and the standard of service are consistent with the price. Walking routes into the open forest and the coastal path at Barton on Sea are both within easy reach.