Romance lies not in overpriced long-stemmed red roses or intrusive gypsy violins. Better to let it find you at an endearingly quirky location like Heythrop Park Hotel near Chipping Norton, which doesn’t tout itself as a romantic destination but has all the ingredients of intimacy, a dash of intrigue and lashings of comfort. We were there for three days and forgot the car, tv and internet. It’s so remote we thought we were lost after several minutes on the endless drive. Yes, we had sparkling wine in a bucket of ice in our enormous room, chocolates, flowers, and yes, the obligatory white fluffy bathrobes and claw-footed bath. Heythrop is a mini Blenheim Palace, built in 1716 from honey coloured limestone by the handsome Duke of Shrewsbury, appropriately known as “The King of Hearts.” Set in 440 acres of sweeping parkland, it has Italian gardens, a secret garden, fern strewn grotto - which used to house the skeleton of a whale - and, tucked away by the golf course, a tranquil Jesuit cemetery from a later period. We had the entire grounds to ourselves, and discovered hidden statues amongst the undergrowth, tempting doors in garden walls and deer running through giant conifers. Inside, there are huge carved wooden ceilings and chimney pieces, a billiard room, ballroom, and huge galleried landings with stained glass windows. After making the most of the health club in the grounds, we were almost too relaxed to leave our room, Eldon (a hotel room must have a name to be romantic) to sweep down the huge staircase for dinner - though I did sweep several times in fact, for the camera. It’s not every day one plays Lady of the Manor in such a setting. There are some foibles in the hotel - a mediocre breakfast loses Romance points, we wanted a tray in our room to sustain the illusion of being country weekend house guests - but we overlooked everything for the sake of such an unusual, and yes, impossibly romantic, experience.

www.heythroppark.co.uk/
Enstone, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire
OX7 5UE

Google map: tinyurl.com/y944gm6

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