If you’ve ever seen films as eclectic as Eyes Wide Shut, Wilde, The World Is Not Enough and Quills, then you will be familiar with the grand stately home Luton Hoo, situated between Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. Many will also remember the house from that memorable wedding scene in Four Weddings And A Funeral when a disconsolate Hugh Grant finds himself stuck in a cupboard while a couple celebrate their nuptials, a scene actually filmed within the house itself rather than on a studio soundstage. With stunning Capability Brown-designed grounds, a Robert Adam neoclassical exterior and exceptionally well appointed public rooms, it was a source of regret to many for years that it wasn’t open to the public.
Well, thankfully these regrets are now at an end, thanks to Luton Hoo being turned into a well-appointed and extremely lavish luxury hotel, by the respected group Elite Hotels. Much like Cliveden, the staff and management are clearly aware that they have a duty to maintain the fabric and integrity of the building, even as hordes of visitors on an even more lavish scale than the original owners must have imagined troop through, whether for weddings, receptions, spa weekends, golf breaks or just to experience, fleetingly, the sense of life on a grander plain.
As one might expect, there are various subsidiary buildings that offer all the facilities that you’d expect, such as a lavishly appointed spa, a very serious 18-hole golf course and the informal Adam’s Brasserie, which has stills of all the many films and TV shows that have been filmed over the years. There is luxurious accommodation in some of the other buildings, but for the full country mansion experience, you want to stay in the main house, which offers near-unbelievably lavish suites with panoramic views overlooking the grounds, named after famous guests past such as Lord Mountbatten. But even the ‘normal’ rooms offer gorgeous beds, marble bathrooms and the usual amenities such as flatscreen TVs and Molton Brown toiletries.
Breakfast and dinner are served in the lavishly appointed Wernher Restaurant, named after Sir Julius Wernher, a previous owner of Luton Hoo. It offers high-class British-influenced cuisine to notable effect. My guest’s starter of pigeon and foie gras was somewhat overcooked, but the rest of the meal – including veal served three ways, beef with oxtail and a tasting of rhubarb to end – was impeccable, giving full credence to head chef Kevin Clark’s belief that using local ingredients and working closely with respected suppliers is the best way to make for an enjoyable dining experience. A bottle of crisp Austrian Riesling was an extremely welcome accompaniment as well.
Saying to many people that you are going to head to one of Britain’s most iconic and grand stately homes outside the frankly unprepossessing environs of Luton might seem a surprising and incongruous juxtaposition. But the experience that you will have as a guest at Luton Hoo is likely to be a memorable and compelling one, and one that will make you feel every bit as welcome as the legions of film stars, aristocrats and royalty who have visited this grand place before.
Luton Hoo Hotel, Golf Club & Spa, LU1 3TQ. www.lutonhoo.co.uk
