Dogmersfield Park, England

We are staying in the countryside about 40 miles outside of London at the Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire, in the village of Dogmersfield.  When we arrive, we take an afternoon four mile stroll through the grounds and surrounding countryside:  cross the meadow, skirt the keeper’s cottage, continue along the cow and separate bull enclosures (don’t bother the bull!), past the pigsty (quite neat and tidy I must say), a short crossing through a bit of forest, coming out by the canal complete with swans, pass under a charming stone bridge, then another, then another, hop over the wooden fence to continue on the path back to the meadow leading to the Manor.   I do love the English countryside.  I could live here…

We see the Manor in the distance – still nary a person in sight.    The geese are plentiful however.  Oh my, they must be eating everything in sight.  I must ask the woodsmen to be a bit more alert.  As we return to the Manor through the last vestiges of the crisp September afternoon sun, I am hoping the staff has been diligent while we were out.    There is always so much to be done:  the silver polishing, the beating of the comforters, the hearths to be laid.  And of course we have guests coming for dinner tonight…

All right – well just for a moment I forgot myself.  I suppose I’ll just have to wait for the start of the second series of Downton Abbey – but sadly not until January 2012 in the U.S.

I know that most of these old estates have incredible history.  Dogmersfield Park is no exception. On the travel route between the coastal port of Southampton and London, this estate is where the future first wife of Henry VIII met her future husbands.  Catherine of Aragon was on the way from France to London and met Henry VII’s sons, Prince Arthur, the heir to the throne, and Prince Henry, his younger brother, at Dogmersfield. Arthur married Catherine but then died at the age of 15.  At Henry VII’s death, young Henry was proclaimed King and he then married his brother’s widow.   This was allowable in the Catholic religion but Henry later used this as a rationale for divorcing his long time queen and thus was spawned the great HBO series “The Tudors”! 

There are of course many historic properties in England offering accommodations and many I'm sure more charming and intimate than this.  However, even though this is a large hotel and is a bit skewed towards the corporate clientele, the Four Seasons has done a great job of maintaining the sense of the “old manor” even though the current building is essentially a very well done renovation of the Elizabethan style house originally built on the site in 1728.  For leisure activities there is of course hiking, and skeet shooting which I highly recommend - wellington boots and waterproof mackintoshes provided!  The service and food at the hotel is top drawer.   The estate is close to Windsor Castle and to the village of Chawton, where the home of Jane Austen is open to visitors and where she wrote Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion.   Unfortunately I was too busy skeet shooting and having tea and scones in the library and imagining myself as the lady of the manor and so did not get to Chawton…