I have found myself starting a hell of a lot of sentences with … “when I was at Lime Wood”, It is true. Lime Wood Hotel in Hampshire is potentially one of my favourite places ever. I did try to tell my bestie, my family and everyone else that I am not trying to show off …. but merely passing on my excitement of the place. I am so sure they would adore it to. In fact a lot of the time I was there, I was thinking, how can I get the girls down here for a mini trip? What is so special? If I was to mix together my three favourite hotels the recipe would make Lime Wood Hotel…. just love it.
You might be beginning to get the idea that found Lime Wood Hotel to be fairly perfect. It is the kind of place that I would love to go on a Spa break with my besties. That being said it is also one hell of an amazing place for a romantic or get away from it all trip. It is also very family friendly with some great options for kids. Who am I kidding …. I would pretty much find any reason to go back there. It is the kind of hotel where you feel like you are one of a handful of guests. There were so many standouts in my visit!
During my recent trip to Lime Wood I fell in love with the Herb House Spa. Amazing place. I did break up my Spa Day to check into my room…. purely out of curiosity …. and I thought this was a clever thing to do. No, no, no…..probably one of the most stupid ideas ever. I then found myself torn between being in my heavenly room or lounging around outside the Spa in the outdoor steaming hot pool. What a tough decision!
The bedroom. Where to start? This is one of the most romantic, relaxing, gorgeously decorated hotel rooms I have ever stayed in. I was staying in one of the Pavillions and it was exquisitely sumptuous, modern, classical and generally amazing. The ambiance, the bed, the spectacular bath, the view from the bath…. the everything. This is a room to utterly chill out in. I want that bath at home. It curved around my head like it was made for me. I could have spent hours in it. The only thing to make me want to leave the room was my highly anticipated dinner at Hartnett Holder & Co. A quick mention to the room service menu …. if you ever find yourself hungry in this place …. the room service menu is pure high quality comfort food and just what I would want.
Dinner at Harnett Holder & Co was one of the best dinners I have ever had. It is not often that I would go for a sharing menu, but on the recommendation of our superb waiter James, we did. The food was literally out of this world. It would have been just as nice to eat inside in the lovely dinning room but as it was such a beautiful and warm evening (it had been 30ºC earlier), we chose to eat outside in the terrace. The view over to my room was perfect. I am struggling to find the words to describe how idyllic it was. These pictures should give you an idea.
Standouts …. were the whole meal. The goat salami from their own smokehouse was out of this world and they really need to sell that stuff. We had a lovely, leisurely, relaxed meal in a wonderful setting. Wish I was there now.
Each dish throughout the tasting menu was superb. Utterly mouth watering and left me wanting to have the exact same meal again the next day. I loved that my gluten free preference was obviously noted on a system and all staff brought it up before I had even had a a chance. Great service. The homemade gluten free bread was awesome. So hard to get right but they nailed it. The waiting staff were great fun, polite and extremely knowledgeable. They were there if you needed them, but were never intrusive.
Breakfast in the Scullery the next morning was hard…… purely because I was still full from my amazing dinner the night before. I was a little gutted not to be hungry enough to explore the breakfast fully if I am honest. The Scullery is such a great space for breakfast. I am not a big fan of those large hotel dinning rooms first thing in the morning. Again my gluten free bread was brought out for me without me having to mention it to the staff. I was really well looked after.
Truth be told I really needed 2 or3 days to be able to enjoy all of Lime Wood fully. I sound like such a diva!!! I wish I had more time to explore the grounds, do some of the other activities on offer and just chill out. I love this place. Quite simply. This is without fail a 5* star Fifi Friendly award winning property. This luxury country house hotel has a modern twist and frankly left me in awe. It is also situated in the Most Environmental Destination in the World, the stunning New Forest. Get yourself a reason to go there. You will love it.
