Hambleton Hall

The Place

If you’re planning a second honeymoon, a break from work or a weekend away from the kids, this Victorian former shooting lodge in the grand hotel tradition is a sybaritic paradise, from which only your wallet and your waistline will suffer. The location is unrivalled, standing in stately grandeur on a wooded hillock, surrounded by manicured lawns, surveying the expanse of Rutland Water.
The interior is sumptuous. In her design of the rooms, Stefa Hart uses rich, heavy fabrics, combining stripes and chintzes in some of the bedrooms, and showing a preference for delicate colours. The rooms still have their original mouldings and fireplaces and are furnished with fine antiques and paintings. Bedrooms with a view over the water are the most sought-after and expensive.
Many people are drawn here by the wizardry of Michelin-starred chef, Aaron Patterson. He works his magic on only the freshest of ingredients, whether Hambleton beef, sea bass or veal sweetbreads. One of the joys of staying here is that you can blow the cobwebs away with an exhilarating walk from the front door of the hotel as far as you want around Rutland Water, bird-watching as you go.
Some time ago the Harts opened a home bakery – Hambleton Bakery – that makes a variety of breads and cakes. We particularly like their Hambleton Sourdough loaf.