A LUXURY SUSTAINABLE FOODIE STAYCATION AT HAMPTON MANOR, UK

Nestled in the village of Arden in Hampton in the West Midlands of England, lies a beautiful forty five acre estate, with a walled garden, two award winning restaurants, one with a Michelin star, twenty four beautifully appointed bedrooms, a cookery school and artisan bakery. At Hampton Manor, time slows down with it’s chic communal spaces, perfect for long afternoons of lounging, the estates grounds are ideal for those who love long walks and the country air.  The focus is on rest and relaxation, locally grown produce, supporting local and at the forefront of it all Hampton Manor offers the ultimate in five star sustainable luxury retreat living. Read on to discover our overnight experience of a sustainable foodie staycation at Hampton Manor. 

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A Little History

As we drove up the winding estate, peppered with evergreens and the beautiful autumnal hues one late September afternoon, it was hard to imagine that prior to 2008, the estate of Hampton Manor had not been used for well over a year. Parts of the grand manor house and walled garden had been neglected but thankfully the Hill family bought the estate in 2008 and set to work with the aid of many skilled local people.

The Estate was originally built in 1855, by Sir Frederik Peel, son of Prime Minister, Robert Peel, now a family run five star hotel run by co-founders, James and Fjona Hill. Fjona is the creative director and has a wonderful eye for  interior design which can be seen throughout the property.

The Manor House is nothing less than impressive as are the lawns and beautifully manicured gardens. One of our favourite photography backdrops though, had to be the Clock tower adjacent to the manor house. It has a great sense of grandeur about it, amongst the foliage of the property.

Abode Options at Hampton Manor

When it comes to staying at Hampton Manor there are a few options, depending upon the style of experience you prefer.

The Manor House

For design lovers, you’ll note that with the Manor House being built in 1855, there is a real William Morris influence with his prints that are inspired by nature ensures the Manor House is an extension and almost homage to this era.

For those who love old world stately home glamour, with pretty splashes of colour, the Manor House has a selection of 15 luxurious and perfectly formed rooms to pick from, fittingly named after those who once owned the estate. Choose from three suites, Robert Peel, George Fentham and the Sarah Ireland which all have an understated opulence with garden views. Guests can also choose from one of the six feature rooms, Henrietta Maria, De Mountford, Lillingston, Lord Mowbray, Queen Eleanor, all perfect for bath lovers as they come with tubs perfect for a long soak.

Just when you thought that was your lot, there is also a Manor Cosy, known as Ardene for those wanting a smaller option and finally the Manor Snug, which sounds the cutest being the smallest room and named XO.

The Manor House Rooms are perfect for those who are looking for a two night or longer stay on the estate. 

Grace & Savour Walled Garden Suites

If enchanting walled gardens and an interactive kitchen setting is more your scene, then look no further than these are the estates newest additions.

Select from a choice of two larger suites at Grace & Savour, complete with  private terraces and garden views. Or there are a further three suites, which just like the Master Suites, take their design approach from the estate’s timber yard. Think concrete baths, full size toiletries, wild terrace garden views, it’s no wonder these are known as the most immersive and sensory rooms on the estate.

All five of the rooms are individually designed and themed around a particular local wood craft, which is such a meaningful touch. Guests can select from The Whittler, The Ebeniste, The Weaver, The Coppicer, or The Shingler.

Manor Cottage (Walled Garden Cottage)

Looking for something a little rustic and homely, well look no further than the charming Manor Cottage. The property is home to The Walled garden Hideaway, perfect for a couples wanting some alone time and privacy. The Coach House Rooms, are attached to the cottage and are great value for money. Both of these room categories can be combined to accommodate eight people upon request for a intimate friends or family stay. The cottage has a sun room, lounge, dining room and plenty of entertaining space for enjoying time  away. 

Dining at Hampton Manor

Being quite the food led estate Hampton Manor has a few options to consider for lunch, dinner and those in between times where a snack is required!

Smoke

Smoke is led by MasterChef, The Professionals 2019 winner, Stuart who is Birmingham born and bred. As the name suggests Smoke is all about seasonal food, which is cooked with simplicity, a lot of soul over coals. The focus is more meats and seafood but there is a vegetarian option for each course, which sounds utterly delicious. This is laid back, unpretentious dining with Smoke being located on the edge of the Manor’s walled garden, in the formal furnace house for the manor. It’s  perfect when the weather’s good with seating around a large communal table, in the greenhouse or roast marshmallows beside the fire pit to warm up when there’s a chill in the air.

If the weather is good, guests can sit in the refurbished glass houses right outside Smoke.

Dine at smoke: Lunch Friday-Sunday & Dinner Monday-Saturday

The Manor House

The Manor house is more focussed towards group dining and accommodating groups of differing sizes. The options are perfect for private dining, meetings, celebrations and the like. Here you can choose a venue that reflects the intimacy of your event. Options include The Courtyard (16-132 guests), the Dining Room (9-42 guests) and The tasting Room (4-8 guest and is the most intimate for private dining).

Take a peak inside some of the Manor House Rooms.

The Walled Garden Cottage

The walled Garden Cottage can also be a dining venue and can comfortably seat six to ten guests round the table. Contact the manor for further information and menu options.

Dining options at Savour & Grace: Dinner: Wednesday to Saturday, seasonal tasting menu £165 (£145 on Wednesdays) & Lunch: Saturdays £90.

The Bakery

Open to the public as well as guests, The Bakery is located in the Smoke premises and headed by lead baker, Adam Cross. The focus here is on using stone ground UK grown grains, from farms who have an organic and regenerative ideology. The bakery produce the most delicious breads, very distinct in flavour, as well as croissants, cinnamon buns, sweet and savoury pastries, cakes, tarts and lots more. 

The Bakery has a Barista counter serving single origin coffee on filter as well as a range of coffee and teas plus other hot drinks. 

The Bakery: Open Thursday to Sunday, from 9 am until 12 pm.

The Manor Bar

For a drink or light bites throughout the day such as a cheese board, truffle chips or even burgers, guests can head to the bar area, which is relaxed and casual. There is a small menu of bar food, which will keep you satisfied until the next meal. It is also possible to order a light lunch here.

Grace & Savour: The Overnight Experience

We sampled this wonderfully rare, immersive, sustainably focussed, yet personalised experience, which combined a relaxing overnight stay, with a taster menu at the chef’s counter at the Grace & Savour open kitchen. The teams commitment to the land and responsibly sourced produce with creative and innovative cooking methods is mind blowing. 

The experience starts with an incredible warm welcome as you enter Grace & Savour, which is run by the dynamic husband and wife, David and Anette Taylor, Chef Director and Restaurant Director. David has clocked up many years of experience including working in North America and Scandinavia, working as part of a team that won three Michelin stars in Maaemo, Norway. David and Anette moved from Norway to open up Grave & Savour.

The most unique and endearing thing about Grace & Savour is that everything guests eat here is made in the UK. At Grace & Savour expect wonderful hospitality combined with the understated theatre of the open kitchen.   

Following a swift check in at 3 pm on the day of arrival, guests are introduced to the setting by enjoying a drink and a little something from the kitchen. Call it a teaser that will set the palate for what is to come later in the evening. 

Next comes the tour of the walled garden with Chef David, where you’ll spend some time learning of how the garden was brought back to life over the past couple of years, preparing the soil and how the gardeners are working to grow  vegetables and fruit here. If weather conditions are not so good the garden tour is swapped for the cookery school kitchen, where guests can get a glimpse into the fermentation practice of the restaurant as well as techniques they are experimenting with currently. It’s a great insight into the artistry of cookery at this kitchen and feels like a real privilege to be amongst such a talented team of chefs.

Head back to acquaint yourself with your abode for the evening. The walled garden suites have been executed with nothing less than perfection. Each suite is named after the craftsmanship of a local wood craftsman or woman who was hired to produce some of the interior features.

We stayed in the Coppicer suite, Walking through the small wild garden terrace up the path to the suite is pretty exciting, whilst stepping inside reveals a small entrance area that serves as a cloak room. You’ll immediately notice that the decor has Scandinavian influence in its design and colour palette.

Inside there are two comfy arm chairs looking out through the large windows to the terrace and right across in the distance you can take a glimpse at the chefs working away at the open kitchen.

The suites immediately have a calming atmosphere, with the natural colour palette, which has been interspersed sympathetically with a slight splash of colour. 

Large bath tubs are the focal point of the bathroom in the suites as they are cast in concrete and come with a bath time ritual, which is nothing short of restful and awakening. Toiletries are full size and designed by local organic apothecarists, Harvest. 

Following the garden tour and settling into your suite, guests can partake in a couple of activities which are part of Hampton Manor’s ‘House Rhythm’. This includes two extra activities, two of which can be enjoyed on the day of arrival.

Sweet Sounds – Cake & Sparkling Wine In The Manor Bar

Usually between 3 pm and 4 pm and includes vinyl music accompanied by fresh cake of the day from the bakery and a glass of sparkling wine to help ease guest guests into the pace of life.

Swig – Informal Wine Tasting At The Manor

The second experience follows on from 4:15 pm and is an informal wine tasting of three wines from the cellar and is a great way to learn about the wines that are served on the estate.    

Dinner service starts at 7 pm at Grace & Savour. We opted for a seat at the chef’s counter around the open kitchen and of course there is the option to sit in the restaurant if guests prefer.

The overnight package includes the tasting menu and we accompanied ours with the drinks pairing. Wine pairings can also be non alcoholic options, which accompany the flow of the menu. Being vegetarian, the kitchen prepared a vegetarian friendly version of the regular Autumn menu, which was pretty impressive as it looked pretty similar to the regular menu.

Autumn Vegetarian Taster Menu At Grace & Savour

Course 1: A broth of salted turnips with organic peas, Scottish girolle and Sea buckthorn from the Cornish coast I 1086′, Nyetimber, West Sussex, England, 2013.

Course 2: Biodynamic cucumber from Toby with aubergine and our bread miso finished with sunflower and cucumber petals from their garden  1086′, Nyetimber, West Sussex, England, 2013.

Course 3: A tart of Chapel Organics beetroot with lacto fermented beetroot honey and biodynamic yoghurt from Loch Arthur Creamery I Spatburgunder, ‘Calx’, Andi Mann, Rheinhessen, Germany, 2021.

Course 4: Organic field mushroom with toasted buckwheat and Welsh black truffle I Spatburgunder, ‘Calx’, Andi Mann, Rheinhessen, Germany, 2021.

Course 5: Grilled leek from Royal Oaks Organics and magnolia from their garden in a crisp made from the mother of sourdough I  Gruner Veltliner, ‘Steinertal’, F.X. Pichler, Wachau, Austrin, 2021.

Course 6:  Organic salsify with herbs and a kombu broth I Gruner Veltliner, ‘Steinertal’, F.X. Pichler, Wachau, Austrin, 2021.

Course 7: Sourdough bread made by Adam, their in house baker, served with butter infused with the same grain the bread is made with I Rousanne, Domaine Lionnet, Rhone Valley, France, 2021.

Course 8:  Organic carrot from Royal Oak Organics with sweetcorn from our garden and chilli peppers from Toby I Rousanne, Domaine Lionnet, Rhone Valley, France, 2021.

Course 9:  Turnip from Cumbria with a sauce of leek cream and parsley oil I Wild Sauvignon, Greywacke, Marlborough, New Zealand, 2015.

Course 10:  Celeriac cooked in butter with kales from their walled garden and a broth of burnt onion I Kadarka, 1880′, Maurer, Subotica, Serbia, 2022.

Course 11:  Organic blueberries from Trehane nurseries with toasted marshmallow, lavender and buttermilk I Malvazija, Piquentum’, Istria, Croatia, 2021.

Course 12:  A parfait of honey from Maggie in Knowle, with wild blackberries from the estate and crème fraiche sorbet I Late Harvest Chenin Blanc, Cullen Wines, Margaret River, Australia, 2023 Financier.

Course13: Choux pastry made from Wild Farmed four filled with Roughway farm apricots preserved from the summer I Late Harvest Chenin Blanc, Cullen Wines, Margaret River, Australia, 2023 financier.

The whole dining experience is simply exquisite and it’s wonderful to chat to the chefs as they bring up the courses to diners and learn more about the dishes. We’d most certainly recommend the wine pairing which is expertly crafted by the sommelier. A really lovely touch is that you get a signed menu and wine pairing list at the end of the evening to take away as a memento of your evening.

The next morning, guests can expect breakfast in bed, a delicious breakfast will be bought to your suite around 9 am or 9:30am. The basket has a lovely continental breakfast including tea or coffee, yoghurt, fruit and seeds, freshly baked bread, cinnamon buns, milk and orange juice as well as butter and preserves. Its the perfect way to start the day before checking out.

The walled garden rooms all include the chef’s garden tour, full dinner tasting menu and breakfast. 

Finally upon checkout, there is one final House Rhythm guests can attend…

Meet The Maker – Behind The Scenes At The Manor

This aims to give a taste of what life is like on the estate. We got the opportunity to meet Chef Stuart from Smoke, Adam the baker as well as Chef David at Grace & Savour and Max, the sommelier, who took us through some wines. This is quite a fascinating behind the scenes tour and you can ask all those burning questions you’ve always wondered about!!

The Cookery School 

Overlooking the walled garden, the cookery school offers one fantastic experiences in the form of bread and butter making, cinnamon bun workshops as well as other experiences like gardening and foraging. These are great to book as a group or if staying over for the ultimate experience.

The Walled Garden

One of our most favourite parts of the estate is the walled garden. As well as housing two bee hives, which allows the kitchen to make use of the honey as well as some being sold in the bakery, it is a beautiful place to walk through and admire what the gardeners are working on and see some of the produce grown onsite and used in the kitchen. The gardeners ensure the area is free from pesticides and chemicals with biodynamics methods which are currently being explored.

Take a seat on the wooden slat chairs in the summer, or walk around the beds and spot the butterflies and bees going about their very useful work in the garden meandering through the beautiful wild flowers. Every season brings a different colour palette to the garden.

Beautiful Greenhouses

Make use of the outdoor seating areas when the weather is nice and surround yourself in nature with the restored greenhouses. Grab a coffee from the bakery and a sweet treat and take a seat to savour the day in these naturally curated surroundings.

Sustainability at Hampton Manor

The Manor’s commitment to sustainability is commendable. They take this pledge very seriously from sourcing their food produce to energy conservation, in room textiles and working with local craftsmen and women. Hampton Manor has a dedicated head of sustainability and ethics who leads these initiatives, with team members being educated via FarmED, a model farm education centre located in the Cotswolds, about the future of a sustainable planet and its implications on the environment.

Further initiatives at The Manor, include, electric car charging points and combustion of biomass for heating and hot water. Local craftsmen and women who have hand crafted unique pieces of furniture, examples of these are the dark wood stools around the chef’s counter and the light shades at Grace & Savour.

Meat and vegetable food consumed at the Manor are sourced from biodynamic organic local farms, and a neighbouring estate that breeds rare breeds of cattle.

Produce grown in the walled garden is free from pesticides and chemicals with biodynamic methods being explored. The Manor is also part of the national movement to save the bees, within the walled garden, there are two bee hives which allow the kitchen to make use of the honey as well as some being sold in the bakery.

The flour used in the bakery is sourced from a diverse organic farming system with the Tuxford Windmill milling the flour before it arrives at the estate. Wine at the estate has been sourced with the help of Freedom Wine which ensures it’s been farmed responsibly and commits to low intervention wine making. This collaboration led to the Manor winning the AA Wine List of the Year in 2019. 

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A Sustainable Foodie Staycation at Hampton Manor Round Up 

Hampton Manor estate is a truly unique stay and dining experience, easily accessible location, in the heart of England. It’s the perfect retreat for a couple of days away to recharge or de-plug and enter a slower place of life, feel the rhythm of the house and its surroundings. The estate is a food lovers haven, from casual dining options in the Manor bar, group affairs in the Manor House to Smokes offerings and then the Michelin Starred Grace & Savour, where guests are catered for exquisitely. 

Hampton Manor estate is welcoming, without being stuffy, the staff are always on hand to offer help and advice and this is a place where no question feels silly to ask. Whether its a quick chat with the gardeners, chefs or baker, the front of house or any member of the team, everyone is happy to help. At Hampton Manor its the small touches that add that ‘Je ne said quoi’ including the informal Manor Rhythm experiences, the team remembering your name and your likes and dislikes. It may be a grand venue but it most certainly feels like a close knit family environment that guests are welcomed into. 

The estates commitment to sustainability is truly commendable and inspiring. This was one of our main reasons for visiting and we’d recommend the estate if the environmental ethos aligns with your lifestyle and values.

Hampton Manor is a truly special sustainable staycation option, where the food, suites and rooms blend perfectly in delivering a memorable and intimate experience.

What We Loved About Hampton Manor

• As much as we love children, this is very much. an adults only stay.
• The Cake & Fizz, informal wine tasting and behind the scenes tour are a great touch included in your stay.
• The sustainability aspects of the estate and their commitment to the planet.
• The welcoming laid back feel.
• Great stay and dining options and inclusive packages.

The Details

• Location: Shadowbrook Lane, Hampton in Arden, Solihull B92 0EN I Tel 01675 446 080.
• Find it Here: Map Location.
• Details: Check in: 15:00, Check-out: 11:00.
• Website & Bookings: Hampton Manor.
• Accolades: 1 Michelin Star, 2 Michelin Keys, 4 AA Rosettes

Useful Information

• Distance from Birmingham Airport: 10 minutes by car.
• Closest Railway Station: A five minute walk from Hampton in Arden train station. 
• Other things to do in the area includes a four mile long walk, which the staff can guide you with.
• Birmingham City Centre is a 40 minute drive away or alternatively the train takes around 30 minutes.

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