A weekend escape in North Hampshire for a family stay at Oakley Hall Hotel, a luxury manor house hotel in the Hampshire countryside. Nearby is the village of Steventon, the birthplace of famed novelist Jane Austen. Oakley Hall has a history that dates back to 1795 and links to her too.
If you’re looking for more Jane Austen adventures, head this way!
We pulled up along the long driveway to the main hotel building and it was surrounded by green countryside and fields, kids excited to explore in the back! It’s a family-friendly hotel as well as a dog-friendly hotel too which is sometimes rare for luxury hotels. We could see there was going to be plenty of space to run around and enjoy, it’s for 315 acres of beautiful grounds, woodland, and gardens.
Stunning family room
After a swift check-in at the reception with friendly staff, we headed to our family room which was of a great big size to relax in. Running over to the window, it also overlooked the grounds and a lovely running fountain. Other highlights in the room included a very spacious bathroom, complete with a rubber duckie ready for the bath, as well as speakers that play the music from the TV as you sit in your bath. All the other standard amenities in the room including fridge, coffee and tea corner, TV, storage space, etc., the bed was massive and very comfy indeed.
They have 50 bedrooms, so along with the large grounds, it makes it a popular country wedding venue in Hampshire too. Oh, they are also dog friendly for their weddings too!
On-point dinner & brekkie
For our dinner and breakfast, we headed to the hotel’s two AA Rosette Glasshouse restaurants which has a focus on seasonal dishes highlighting locally sourced & home-grown produce, some of which come from their very own kitchen garden. Again, with the dog-friendly aspect of the hotel, they had a separate area for guests with their pups which was well thought out. They had a kids’ menu and the staff were very attentive and patient with the children which is always appreciated by parents. The food was well presented and all dishes were delicious, cost-wise it’s more on the fine dining side we would say. On the drinks menu, they serve up a very local and famous spirit, Bombay Sapphire Gin which has its distillery just a ten-minutes’ drive away in Laverstoke where you can visit for a distillery tour or just pop into their gift shop or café and it’s located right on the river test, a stunning spot.
Breakfast was a big highlight, particularly the crispy hash browns, they had a self-serve continental bar with all sorts including smoothies, and then you ordered a hot dish too. The bounding large hares outside on the lawn as we ate breakfast was an entertaining aspect too. Another bonus of a hotel in the quiet countryside.
Amazing grounds to explore
Finally, time to explore the outdoors to burn off that brekkie, the weather wasn’t that great with some light rain, so the colour hunter wellies available for guests to borrow at reception were most welcome. These small and simple touches always go down well for those with young ones as these sort of things can turn into a little fun game and finding a fave colour or those that fit and don’t.
Charging outside, the nice fountain first, then eyes on a large tree which hosted a swing to fly into the air on, including adults of course. The grounds featured a very interesting area of woodland areas with some pretty unique spots, including an area that had hedges resembling different creatures or animals frozen in time, a bit like the white witch’s garden in Narnia.
Overlooking an adjoined farmers’ field we spotted a herd of deer, before heading to the walled kitchen garden which dates back to 1860. As we were visiting at the end of winter, there wasn’t much in season, but we could see when it is the kitchen team and ultimately guests must love it as they use the seasonal vegetables and fruit in the menus, such as apples, peaches, figs, berries and plums.
Don’t hesitate – treat yourself!
Whether you are looking for a local getaway, a base whilst exploring more of Hampshire, a family or dog-friendly break, or even a wedding venue, than Oakley Hall Hotel makes a rather good fit.
