The Luxury Travel Magazine
The Luxury Travel Magazine
Many of us had childhood fantasies in our youth and pondered what it was like to live in past centuries. Perhaps these musings came about during history class as we learned about long-dead kings and queens, the American Civil War, or while reading the Diary of Anne Frank as she tried to stay hidden from the Nazis. While one cannot go back in time, through the power of imagination and preserved buildings, one can take themselves on a journey without leaving the present time.
The hotel Langshott Manor offers a trip back to Tudor and Elizabethan England. Through the property’s preserved architecture, one can imagine those who have stayed in the hotel’s historic rooms before them. Five hundred years ago, a guest might have stopped at Langshott Manor while on their journey to visit the court of King Henry VIII.
Langshott Manor is based in Horley, England. The historic Surrey Hotel still showcases its original Tudor architecture with lavish half-timber wooden beams, rectangular bay windows, and large masonry chimneys. While the grounds are small, they come to life during the Spring. The pink cherry trees blossom around guests having afternoon tea in the gardens, where they can observe the natural wildlife of Horley, as ducks and robins call Langshott Manor home for the season.
Langshott Manor is the oldest property in the Alexander Hotel Collection since the property’s history dates back to the late sixteenth century. The manor house has been called home to many great families over the last 500 years, such as Richard Evelyn, who was the brother of the famous diarist John Evelyn, during the reign of King Charles II.
During the twentieth century, the manor house was the home of Major Jennings, who provided shelter for many evacuees during World War II. However, up until 1986, the manor house lay empty until the Noble family bought the property. They fell in love with the manor’s charm and character, as many had before them. The family set about restoring some of the historical features of the house and tended to the property’s gardens. The Alexander Hotel Collection bought the historic Surrey hotel in October 1997 and spent the last twenty years carefully resorting the house to its former Tudor glory. They built a new restaurant and a wing of bedrooms and suites to create the enchanting property guests see today.
The historic Surrey hotel has 22 rooms and suites, which come in all different shapes and sizes, from standard cozy double rooms to spacious attic suites and historically named suites. Once guests have checked into their room, they can sink into the Egyptian cotton linens and plump pillows of their four-poster beds and rest until the restaurant opens for dinner.
The suites are places across the main house, the moat mews, and the garden area. While each suite is unique, they all have large spacious interiors with separate dining and lounge areas. In addition, each suite is decorated in bright and botanical prints to reflect Surrey’s rolling hills and gardens. While some suites have access to their own private gardens, others have terrace balconies overlooking the property’s ancient moat.
The hotel’s historic suites are named after significant architectural landmarks such as Leeds Castle or well-known historical figures such as Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. The Leeds Suite is situated on the first floor of the main house and boasts views of the property’s beguiling botanic gardens. The suite has two four-poster beds, which is perfect for a group couple trip away in Surrey’s countryside. The room has a luxurious interior décor, with thick velvet drapes, floral wallpaper, and rich walnut furniture.
The Mulberry is Langshott Manor’s elegant dining room restaurant and is the bearer of three AA rosettes. The menu serves the finest local produce that Surrey has to offer, celebrating each flavour and ingredient by combining traditional and modern culinary techniques. A guest can order seared and succulent duck breast or ricotta gnocchi served with Jerusalem artichokes and aged parmesan cheese on the Mulberry menu. One of the many options on the dessert menu is apple and almond crumble with cardamon Anglaise and vanilla ice cream. The classic British dessert is served in a traditional manner, except that the crumble is presented in a warm silver saucepan. Next to The Mulberry, a guest can find an array of outdoor seating spaces, where one can enjoy a chilled glass of prosecco or a fresh bellini cocktail and sit in the calming afternoon sun.
A guest can also enjoy an afternoon tea experience at Langshott Manor. The experience can be enjoyed on the crisp white tablecloths of The Mulberry restaurant or in a more casual interior in one of the manor’s lounges. Afternoon Tea at Langshott Manor is a gastronomic experience that any guest will enjoy. A diner can choose from light finger sandwiches lined with classic to rare fillings and, of course, freshly baked scones served with jam and Cornish clotted cream. Alternatively, a guest could pair lemon and poppy sea drizzle loaf cake or coconut cream pie with floral teas like Darjeeling or chamomile.
The historic Surrey hotel, Langshott Manor, proves that history can be relived. While the hotel’s guests may not be dressed in long velvet dresses or frilled silk shirts and would instead opt for denim jeans, that doesn’t mean they can’t imagine the lives of people from the past as they wander around the manor’s long wooden halls. As the historian, Lord John Acton said, “History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.”
