The most beguiling hotels and restaurants on the Thames to check into this Summer
RMAX1/7Cliveden House
It’s an icon, as irresistible and fun as a second martini. The blessed thing about this landmark hotel is how well it does indulgence, from gold leaf in the champagne cocktails to dinner in the gilded and swagged dining room, where the views extend over acres of lawn and parkland that roll down to the Thames. Perhaps most enchanting is Spring Cottage, a three-bedroom bolthole hidden in a secret garden on the riverbank, which has access to the estate’s boathouse. Climb aboard the Belmont, Cliveden’s vintage slipper launch, and soak up the myths and legends that permeate the air as you float down the river.
Greg Balfour Evans / Alamy Stock Photo2/7Oakley Court
If you haven’t stayed here, had negronis while lounging on the green-and-whitestriped daybeds or been for a birthday weekend, then you’re way behind schedule. This is the hotspot riverside hotel, like a Soho House-on-Thames (partly thanks to River House, Soho House’s summer outpost here), where lunch generally means easy salads rustled up with ingredients from the walled garden, but dinner could be an extravaganza of a Japanese omakase meticulously prepared by a resident sushi chef. The river itself is a hub of activity over the summer months, with self-drive boats available for exploring up or downstream near Windsor.
Dylan Garcia / Alamy Stock Photo3/7The French Horn
The Clooneys can’t get enough of this spot (pictured) in Sonning-on-Thames, where The Wind in the Willows meets Lake Como. More than 200 years old, it is unabashedly old-school: chintz curtains, working fires and copperdomed trolleys serving roast duck and divine lobster thermidor (the owners have a lobster farm in Scotland).
Ambling Images / Alamy Stock Photo4/7Monkey Island Estate
For romance and drama, few spa experiences can compete with this hotel’s signature treatment: the Floating Massage, in the royal-blue spa barge where they stretch and pummel you to perfection as you lie on a waterbed. It’s all about water here: in 1197, monks settled in the village of Bray, near a small island. Renowned for its fish ponds, the estate passed between noble families and gentry, evolving into a picturesque 18th-century site for the Duke of Marlborough’s angling pavilion. Today, Monkey Island is a bright white beacon, and the Wedgewood Suite, with original plasterwork of mermaids, shells and dolphins, is a wedding-cake extravaganza.
Instagram @ therelaishenley5/7The Relais Henley
Thank goodness for this hotel, which crept onto the scene last year. It’s quintessentially English, a wisteria-cloaked former coaching inn by the water in Henley-onThames. Hotelier Grace Leo has lovingly restored the place and what was once practically a ruin now has chic, muted rooms – including No 108, where the royal crest on the wall dates from when King Charles I stayed. The food is exceptional, as you would expect from a branch of Mosimann’s of Belgravia: try the signature fishcakes with parsley sauce. General manager Jonathan Payne has the inside track on all the local events and can sort a launch for a romantic cruise or have you airborne in a Tiger Moth at the drop of a hat.
Instagram @handfmarlow6/7The Hand and Flowers
At Tom Kerridge’s gourmand retreat in Marlow, you can expect elevated pub classics, such as deep-fried plaice with caviar-tartare sauce, fish du jour with lobster oil and, of course, Kerridge’s signature chips. Spend the night in one of the sweet cottages and relish the turndown service, which includes exceptionally good chocolate cookies.
Instagram @crookedbillet_stokerow7/7The Crooked Billet
Everyone – from the highwayman Dick Turpin, who fell in love with the landlord’s daughter Bess, to Prince Harry – has enjoyed the low-key, ramshackle nature of this 17th-century inn, just west of Henley-on-Thames. Long before the world was championing locally sourced ingredients, owner Paul Clerehugh was harvesting from his own smallholding or from the villagers – there’s a sign on the door offering pints of bitter in exchange for produce. Come asparagus or courgette season, the food doesn’t get any fresher. It also serves Oxfordshire lamb with a salsa verde that could rival Skye Gyngell’s, and one of the best sticky toffee puddings in the country. Everything is delicious here, including its own particular charm.
This article was originally published in the August issue. Subscribe now to get 3 issues for just £1, plus free home delivery and free instant access to the digital editions.
