Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are in full nesting mode as they await the arrival of baby Sussex. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are currently resting up at their new home, Frogmore Cottage, but before they made the move to Windsor, they reportedly went on a lavish babymoon at Heckfield Place in Hampshire. The 400-acre hotel in the English countryside reopened in 2018 after nearly a decade of renovations, with 45 freshly redone rooms and suites adorning the 18th-century Georgian manor house. Here’s everything you need to know about if you’re thinking of checking in.
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It’ll cost you $13,000 a night to stay in the Long Room, where Prince Harry and Meghan spent their babymoon.
It’s the most secluded and fanciest room on the property, and you pretty much never have to leave. It has vaulted ceilings and exposed beams, an English oak kitchen and a private dining terrace, plus separate living rooms and dining rooms, both with working fireplaces. Its original British art, from a private collection, includes a painting of Virginia Woolf in the bedroom. Stay here and you’ll also get a very regal “guest keeper,” also known as a private butler.
The Michelin-starred chef uses locally grown food.
Culinary director Skye Gyngell, who earned a Michelin star at Petersham Nurseries Cafe, is the mastermind behind the dining concepts. Both restaurants, Marle and Hearth, use locally grown food. Marle is a bit more casual, with dishes like crepes, scones and eggs, while Hearth has a revolving menu and is open only to hotel guests. There’s also Moon Bar, known for its cocktails and 1,200-bottle wine cellar.
You can pick your own ingredients for a true garden-to-table situation.
Yes, you can go to the hotel’s horse farm and choose fresh ingredients like fruit and vegetables that will then be prepared for your meal. Also, the property’s honey and fresh flowers are on full display in the restaurants and accommodations.
The spa would definitely be Tig-approved.
The hotel’s Little Bothy Spa has five treatment rooms; three studios for personal training, yoga and Pilates; and even a movement studio where you can be instructed by “lifestyle specialists” from holistic wellness brand Bodyism. Little Bothy uses products from Wildsmith Skin exclusively, accompanying them only with ingredients from the hotel’s own personal apothecary garden. Perhaps that’s where Meghan picked up some gardening tips.
The hotel hosts weekly activities at its event space, the Assembly, and anyone can buy tickets.
Heckfield Place present talks with local experts and offers various activities, including classes on how to create an Easter table, a tulip-painting class and a whole lot of wellness seminars perfect for yoga devotees. It also holds movie screenings—The Favourite and Mary, Queen of Scots were recent crowd-pleasers, and may have helped Meghan brush up on some family history.
Princess Eugenie’s pals already stayed here for her royal wedding.
Liv Tyler, Cara Delevingne and Poppy Delevingne booked rooms at Heckfield Place for Princess Eugenie’s wedding to Jack Brooksbank in October last year. Liv Tyler shared an Instagram snap of the crew all passed out in one of the luxe rooms post-wedding, but we’re going to assume Prince Harry and Meghan’s getaway wasn’t quite so decadent.
