The country house goes wild: A rarefied retreat without the stuffiness

It’s not the long, winding driveway, flanked by centuries-old trees and wild-growing bushes, that gives it away. It’s not the neat Georgian facade, or the light-filled triple-height atrium that greets you when you step through the front door.

Wild at heart … Heckfield Place country house.

No, the first sure sign that Heckfield Place in Hampshire is much more than just another English country house getaway is the striking metre-high arrangement of cow parsley that takes pride of place in that airy atrium.

Cow parsley, for those not familiar with it, is a weed “rarely encountered in well-kept gardens”, according to the Royal Horticultural Society’s website. Heckfield Place’s clever florist clearly takes a different view. She has arranged large stands of cow parsley in a clear glass vase, creating a magnificent sculptural effect that perfectly complements the Persian rugs on the floor and the gilt-edged mirrors on the wall.

It’s a very Heckfield touch. At this contemporary country house an hour west of London, it’s all about going a little wild. Instead of rows of manicured flower beds, the grounds have an appealing air of unruliness. In the woodlands, fallen trees are allowed to decay in place to regenerate the soils; on other parts of the estate, cuttings and clippings are composted for the same result.

Whichever direction you wander through Heckfield Place’s 177-hectare estate you will find examples of how well this approach is working. Forest paths are shaded by centuries-old stands of trees and lined with banks of ferns; bucolic walled gardens are heady with the scents of citrus trees espaliered along weathered brick walls and furiously blooming plantings of peonies and lavender, roses and lupins. For those who fancy a bit of wild swimming, one of the estate’s two lakes awaits – but be aware that the waters remain cool even on the hottest days.

Serenity rules … guest room

The centrepiece is Heckfield’s own organic farm which generates much of the produce for the two restaurants, both under the supervision of culinary director Skye Gyngell, the celebrated Australian chef who also oversees London’s Spring restaurant and has long campaigned for planet-friendly farming.

Guests have the opportunity to tour the farm and the biodynamic market gardens, where 70 workers tend to pigs, sheep, chickens, orchards, beehives and seven greenhouses – each one set at a different temperature – not to mention the 40-strong herd of Guernsey cows that supplies wonderfully creamy milk, cream, butter, yoghurts and cheese.

“I think it should be obligatory for guests to have to enter via the farm. The farm is where the hotel starts,” says Fred Page, head chef at Marle. The kitchen staff and the farm team co-ordinate the plantings, and Page says it is the quality of the produce that shapes the restaurant experience.

“It makes our job 10 times easier. Take the baby fennel we’re serving on the sea bass,” he says, an ecstatic expression on his face. “Sea bass is one of the most expensive fish around, but I would pay that money just to eat the baby fennel, it’s so unbelievably delicious.”

Greenhouse full of bounty.

Page says that working so closely with the farm team has expanded his culinary repertoire. “I’d never seen chard root until we had a load of it recently, and it’s a really interesting flavour.”

It’s not just about discovering new ingredients, however. “All the different varieties of tomatoes and lettuce they grow – I can now name far more types than I could a couple of years ago, from butterhead and baby gem to concorde and moon red lettuce, which has an almost leathery crisp leaf. Once you start scratching the surface, you see how deep knowledge can go.”

Certainly food is among the highlights of a stay at Heckfield Place. Sitting on Marle’s sun-drenched terrace I enjoy meals that range from the delicate – an exquisite trout tartare with smoked aubergine, green chilli and coriander – to the deeply satisfying, including a bavette steak with wet garlic, roasted farm carrots and red wine butter.

Equally memorable is dinner at Hearth, where every meal comes straight from the open fire. You could put together an entire meal from the tasty small bites, from the wood-roasted empanada stuffed with potato and olive to the grilled asparagus, but save room for the spaghetti with crab, chilli, lemon and parsley.

 The Bothy’s swimming pool.

The restaurants are nor the only part of the property shaped by the estate’s produce. Heckfield’s new 1600-square-metre spa, The Bothy, is an extraordinary retreat where the treatments rival those on offer at some of the world’s best destination spas. To reach The Bothy (an old word for a shelter) you walk through one of the walled gardens into a quiet room where you sit down, remove your shoes – which are whisked away – and slide into slippers.

It is a deliberate moment of slowing down and leaving the outside world behind. “It’s time to slow your mind, so that by the time you get to your treatment you are already relaxed,” says Reka Seres-Erdei, the spa’s director of operations.

Seres-Erdei describes the spa experience as offering “a gentle hug” and she’s not wrong. Everything here is based on nature including the products inspired by plants grown on the estate, from the English chia massage oil with raspberry and jojoba to a cleanser made with English mulberry. New products are on the way. “We have done a test with calendula and chamomile and this year we’re planting more lavender and rose to see what we can do,” says Wildsmith’s Katherine Pye.

You don’t have to book a treatment to enjoy The Bothy. I attend an extraordinary Himalayan breathwork session one morning that leaves me feeling exhilarated, and head back on another morning to do a circuit of the wet area including some gentle laps in the swimming pool, where sunshine streams through the floor to ceiling windows, and a session in the sauna and the hot tub, sheltered by some high-canopied trees.

Master guest room.

You can make appointments with practitioners such as osteopaths and naturopaths but if you only have one experience here, make it the Wildsmith Time. The Bothy favours longer treatments that allow the body to unwind fully and Wildsmith Time’s 135-minute duration may strike some as daunting. But as someone who has dozens of massages every year, I can say Wildsmith Time is the best massage I’ve ever had.

Working on different parts of the body in turn, from head to feet, and using different essential oil blends depending on the time of day, the massage blends remedial work on pressure points with kinesiology techniques. It shakes off all my accumulated stress and leaves me both moving and feeling better.

There is more to Heckfield Place than its spa and restaurants, of course. A wander through the property – which consists of the original house and the extensive addition known as The Corridors – reveals a range of inviting sitting rooms where you can while away the hours playing a board game, leafing through a volume from the library, or admiring the extensive art collection.

If you are looking for stimulation, the estate’s activities program includes author talks and screenings in the cinema. Last October Heckfield Place hosted its first mini arts festival, a three-day event called Cultural Exchange curated by Hollywood legends Frances McDormand and Joel Coen. It included a range of talks and screenings including a session examining the much-loved Coen brothers film, Burn After Reading.

One tip: whenever you choose to come, don’t overschedule yourself. One of the most enjoyable things to do here is to simply relax in your room. In keeping with the sustainable ethos of the estate – which harvests rainwater and uses renewable energy – the rooms are rich in natural tones of taupe and wheat, and natural textures including handwoven mats and woollen blankets. Handmade ceramic vases containing wildflowers are positioned strategically, and a comfy armchair set in front of the window invites you to slow down and drink in the beauty.

Boil yourself a quick brew – the elegant black Japanese kettle is a delightful touch, as are the carefully-crafted metal tea implements, arranged in a leather pouch – help yourself to the freshly-baked biscuits in the mini-bar, and savour the joy of just being.

THE DETAILS

TRAIN/DRIVE
Heckfield Place can be reached by car from Heathrow Airport (40 minutes) or London (75 minutes), or by a one-hour train trip (the nearest station – Winchfield – is a 15-minute taxi ride away).

STAY
Heckfield Place has 45 rooms. From £650 ($1240) a person a night twin share, including breakfast. See heckfieldplace.com

The writer was a guest of Heckfield Place.