Country life
Weekend break
Leanda de Lisle
I've been promising myself a weekend in Prague or Vienna for the past three years, but the thought of having to drive down to Gatwick or Heathrow has put me off. I'd need at least two days to recover from the travelling. The answer seemed to be to get away from the children somewhere closer to hand, so Peter and I drove to the other side of the county and booked into the Sta- pleford Park hotel.
My husband remembers Stapleford when it was a private house, with buckets in the main hall catching the rain as it dripped through the roof. It was owned by the Gretton family, who had acquired it in the 19th century and extended the 17th- and 18th-century buildings until the house resembled a beautiful woman who had grown thick-waisted on rich food. Twenti- eth-century death duties weakened the family's finances and by the time Staple- ford was sold in the 1980s the fat lady had become a bag lady in need of a serious face-lift.
`This is my company car – I work for Toys R Us.' Fate proved kind and Stapleford was bought by Chicago Pizza Pie Factory busi- nessman Bob Payton, who evidently fell in love with the place while he turned it into a hotel. He poured money into it and created a very American idea of the English coun- try house, with themed bedrooms and young men paid to wander around dressed in cricket whites. The poor chap was killed with his dog when he drove into a motor- way sign and the hotel was bought by Peter de Savary, who left the mural in the hall that immortalises the dead dog, the themed bedrooms and much else.
It was a little strange seeing the staff kit- ted out in shooting socks in July, but Sta- pleford now really does have an English country house feel. This has more to do with attitude than appearance. I had sus- pected the hotel would be a little urban island, for urban people, but, while it had power showers, gymnasiums and food a Frenchman wouldn't sniff at, the business has been integrated into community life. The hostesses are local women and there were lots of local friends at the drinks party they hosted on the Friday night. The hotel sent a delegation to the Countryside Rally and had sponsored a polo match that took place in a village a mile away on the Sun- day.
Pete, the chap who runs their 'School of Falconry' comes from a village near us and, to our delight, he's agreed to bring his birds here to kill our rabbits. Falconry would be a great sport to take up if hunting is abolished — but I think it would be a matter of first fmd the money to pay for your falconer. Birds of prey aren't easy to look after. You have to weigh them several times a day, because if they are too fat they won't fly and if they are too thin they die.
Pete told me that if the merlin he keeps at home lost a quarter of an ounce in weight it would be curtains for the poor creature. Still, just imagine riding with a falcon on your glove. Wouldn't it be great?
I found this hotel brought the past alive rather more successfully than the National Trust. Yes, the fabrics used in the main rooms would be better suited to a rectory than a house of this type, but the panelling can't have been this polished since it was put in and maintained by crowds of Victo- rian servants. Yes, they are, most unfortu- nately, creating a golf course, but it has been reasonably sensitively placed and the house itself has been well converted. It is alive, rather than an embalmed corpse.
And it was notable that the Grettons appear to have chosen to leave many of their pictures in Stapleford which suggests the hotel has kept a good relationship with the family. There is a sense of continuity that other country-house hotels and the National Trust would do well to emulate. And all in all, I reflected, as a waitress brought me breakfast in bed, there is much to be said for this modern style of country living.
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