One of English Heritage’s expanding portfolio of holiday cottages, Pool House
at Witley Court is a 1930s style suburban house with a pristine boutique
interior. In fact, entering the house was like walking into the finished
product of an episode of Property Ladder – we half expected Sarah Beeny to
leap out at us from behind the flatscreen TV. Thankfully, she didn’t.
Much of the contemporary furniture has been sourced from SCP,
a company set up in 1985 by Sheridan Coakley to sell classic furniture of
the Modern Movement. The kitchen, with its trendy central island, was
supplied by Lincolnshire based Chiselwood Kitchens, the national kitchen
designer of the year in 2006. And the walls showcase the palette of the Little
Greene Paint Company, whose English Heritage range includes more than 60
period paint colours covering the key interior design periods: Georgian,
Regency, Victorian, 1930s and 1950s.
Unlike most “suburban” homes the Pool House has the insides of a hip hotel -
with so much more room than even the swankiest of suites - and stands alone
on Witley Court’s country estate. Because the house has been entered for
Visit Britain’s five-star standard – a guarantee of excellence under their
Quality Assurance Scheme – it not only looks cool but has some seriously
nifty equipment and facilities. I lost count of the bathrooms, each with a
walk-in power shower with massage settings, and plenty of towels. We were
thankful, too, for a barbeque, dishwasher, DVD player, pretty garden full of
new shrubs and trees, and security system that allowed us to arrive without
disturbing the housekeeper.
The welcome hamper set the tone with Percol Fairtrade coffee, Trade Aid sugar,
wine, bread and cheese. Other thoughtful touches included fresh cut flowers
– oriental lilies and daffodils - and dinky sets of EH toiletries in all the
bathrooms including triple milled lavender soaps.
In fact, we felt so at home at the Pool House that for the whole weekend we
never left the estate grounds. We had a pass to visit any English Heritage
property for the duration of our stay – nearby properties included Boscobel
House, Kenilworth Castle and Hailes Abbey - but we were too embedded at
Witley Court to go elsewhere.
Once one of England’s great country houses, Witley Court was devastated by a
fire in 1937 and is today an evocative ruin. The personal audio tour has
interviews with locals who remember the house in its heyday and who
witnessed the fire. Although staff were unable to give us a behind the
scenes tour, there are no shortage of on-site activities if you plan in
advance. Restoration work to the West Wing has now made several rooms
accessible to the public for the first time. There are woodland walks,
Victorian falconery, bat walks after dark, a summer season of theatre
including Twelfth Night and the Merchant of Venice and Saturday night choral
concerts at the adjacent baroque church of Great Witley.
On Sunday morning we visited the church, which has ceiling paintings by the
late 17th-century Italian artist Antonio Bellucci but does not belong to
English Heritage, and instantly doubled the congregation. After the service,
tea, homemade cake and frisbee with the vicar at the low-slung tea rooms
down the track was about as quintessentially English as you could get -
well, maybe not the frisbee.
The highlight, though, for many visitors, is the colossal Perseus and
Andromeda fountain at the centre of the beautifully landscaped south
parterre gardens. This classical-style fountain, which wouldn’t look out of
place in a Roman piazza, was once the biggest in Europe.
It is now completely restored and fires up for gasping onlookers on the hour
at the weekend. When it was turned on more than a century ago for visitors
such as Edward, Prince of Wales it was described as making “the noise of an
express train”. It was not unlike, then, the sound from the hot water tank
in the small bedroom (mine as it happened) at the front of the Pool House
every time a tap was touched in another room. This, however, was my only
niggle.
Back at the Pool House, we left the first of what will no doubt be many
laudatory comments to follow in the guest book.
The Pool House, Great Witley, Worcestershire WR6 6JT (www.english-heritage.org.uk/witleycourt;
01299 896636)
The house sleeps 8 and has a cot. Weekly prices from £1,055 and three-night
weekends from £500.
It sounds simple, and perfect for a relaxing weekend away... !
After a year of living in a house undergoing major renovation, this sounds like the perfect get-away ....!!
Karen Britton, Surrey,
Combining rural England with boutique hotel has got to be the way forward.
...perhaps paving the way for the next edition in the 'Hip Hotel' series - 'Hip Pool Houses', or maybe 'Hip English Heritage'...?
I have a group of people and am trying to arrange a weekend away - this sounds perfect.
Sam Jones, London,
This tempts me to stay in England and not increase my carbon footprint by running off abroard for my holidays. Excellent article.
Sara Spillett, Kettlewell, England