The Place
With 27 rooms this is somewhat outside our usual size but the unstuffy staff make it feel like a much smaller place. The atmosphere is relaxed but gracious, as you would expect from a house on this scale, one of the best buildings on the Burghley Estate. Formerly The Lady Anne’s Hotel, it’s been completely overhauled, reopening with this new name in July 2011.
They’ve got the basics right here, including the quality beds, the Egyptian cotton linen and the intelligent use of space. Design and furnishings are nicely in keeping with the building, and the overall effect, produced by a reputed interior designer, is perhaps more harmonious than other Hillbrooke hotels (see below).
It’s just along the road in the St Martin’s district of Stamford from The Bull & Swan, our other Stamford entry, and part of the same group. This guide doesn’t normally favour chains, even small ones, but the Hillbrooke philosophy shares much with ours: no managers in suits, no staff uniforms, no name badges.