Milton Park Country House Hotel and Spa, Bowral review: Country service a class above

Eden ... the sprawling Milton Park Country House Hotel and Spa.

A crackling fire, a spell in the library and a moody dinner ... Lenny Ann Low is charmed by her stay in a grand country estate.

I'm a sucker for service. Five minutes into check-in at Milton Park, a suited man at an antique wood desk has hypnotised me with dinner plans.

"I've taken the liberty of reserving a table tonight in Hordern's, our restaurant," he says. "Does 7pm suit you?"

The spa pool at Milton Park.

It does - but for a booking I've made beforehand at a nearby restaurant, for the same time.

I've already fallen for this 1910 country house's splendid feel - the sweeping eucalypt-lined driveway and the candle-lit, old-wood, oil painting-decorated, unmanned entrance hall that says private mansion rather than hotel.

The dinner deal is sealed by the concierge's gracious manner and the idea that after a 90-minute drive we don't have to leave this grand old estate and its formal gardens.

They've upgraded ... spending at least $7 million.

"Why yes," I say, mentally preparing to cancel the other reservation. "That would be wonderful. Thank you."

My beloved appears looking surprised. Waiting in the car below the house's handsome carriage porch, he had been foraging for lollies in the driver's door only to look up into the eyes of another suited man dispatched to park the vehicle.

The bags arrive and we are ushered towards the hotel's accommodation wings, decorated with a more modern, though no less elegant, feel. Hallways lined with white shutters, still-life paintings and a French provincial flavour.

One of the suites at Milton Park.

Once called Mansfield Farm, Milton Park was bought and built by the retailer, grazier and stock breeder Anthony Hordern in 1910. After a series of owners, it was acquired by the Dobler family 14 years ago. They have upgraded the property, spending at least $7 million.

There are 40 rooms and seven suites, some with four-poster beds, private terraces and bay windows. Carriage House, a separate two-storey, seven-bedroom property up the drive, caters for families or a group of friends.

We're in a Garden Fireplace room, one step up from a Garden Courtyard Room. It's a standard hotel layout - with differences. The bathroom has a shower over bath arrangement but also a provincial-style basin with ornate taps, tapered legs and lovely glassware.

Inbuilt wardrobes hide a fridge, mini bar and tea- and coffee-making facilities, the latter featuring ground coffee bags.

The king bed has large side tables with lamps, bottles of water and, opposite, a television (not a flatscreen, surprisingly) inside a tall cabinet. There is a roaring gas log fire and sash windows with white louvred shutters open - with effort - to a view of a trickling fountain, a wing containing a billiards room and bar and an oak lawn.

Newspapers, possibly ironed, are on a desk. A table with welcoming note and white hydrangeas is framed by two pale linen French provincial armchairs. It's snug, calming and light - a surprisingly congruent counterpart to the early 20th-century detail of the main house.

I've only just sat down when a knock heralds sparkling wine in a silver ice bucket, icing sugar-dusted strawberries and sweetened creme fraiche. Sigh.

Dinner at Hordern's is an extremely low-lit affair. One couple use a lighter to read the menu. We graze on French onion soup, plump barramundi, melty slow-roasted beef and excellent gelato and sorbet. Service is, again, attentive, with as many staff members tending us as plates crossing the table.

Afterwards we wander through common rooms filled with thick drapes, overstuffed couches, wintry tree branch arrangements and oil paintings of hardy types in jodhpurs. There is no one else around. A staff member discovers us in the library amid armchairs, a piano and a cabinet of books. In minutes he's lit a roaring fire, brought tea on silver trays and shut the panelled doors for privacy.

After a game of pool in the Polo Bar, we lower the bedroom's gas flames from furnace-strength to warm and sleep well.

Breakfast is in the conservatory - two large rooms with glass doors looking on to autumn leaf-strewn gardens and the pool house. As a pregnant person I tackle the buffet valiantly. Sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs, baked beans and baked tomatoes. Fruit toast, fresh watermelon, muesli, stewed fruit, yoghurt and juice. My beloved asks for a piccolo coffee - it arrives in a flash.

Waddling out, with warm farewells from every corner, we visit the gardens first established by Mary Hordern 100 years ago. They are a beautiful mix of hedged walks, rose parterres, tulip lawns, a wisteria walk, bench seats, fountains and cedar, pine, elm, beech and linden trees. On a wooden fence beside Bluebell Wood is a discreet plaque saying "Heliport".

We don't have time for a spot of tennis, or relaxation and beauty treatments at six private treatment suites at the European bathhouse-style spa.

But the whirl of courtesy and P.G. Wodehouse-style country house charm has willed me into a placid pool of contentedness already.

The writer was a guest of Milton Park Country House Hotel and Spa, and Destination NSW.

Trip notes

Where Milton Park Country House Hotel and Spa, Horderns Road, Bowral. [phone], milton-park.com.au.

Getting there From Sydney, head south on the M5. After 95 kilometres take Bowral/Mittagong exit. At the end of Bong Bong Street, turn left at the roundabout into Kangaloon Road. Go through two roundabouts, turning left into Horderns Road approximately 500 metres after the second roundabout. Drive to the top of the hill and through Milton Park's gates.

How much From $350 a night for a midweek getaway package in a Garden Courtyard Room , $375 for a Garden Fireplace Room, $455 for the Tower Suite and $535 for the Forest Suite (breakfast included, available Sunday to Thursday). Other deals feature breakfast, dinner and use of the spa.

Style statement Friendly country house blending grand old estate with modern French provincial style.

Don't forget Comfy shoes for walking in the gardens.

Perfect for Seclusion, measured repose and romance.

Shame about Small number of TV channels.

Kudos Marvellous service, sense of being at a private house not a big hotel.

Take the kids Yes — there's enough to keep them occupied and enough space for others not to be bugged.