Blantyre
Style Old-fashioned opulence
Setting Burnt orange woodland
Grand old Blantyre just outside Lenox in Massachusetts is a countryside remnant from the gilded turn of the last century. Ivy-clad and elegant, from the outside it looks like a mash-up of an English manor and Scottish castle. Inside, it’s all roaring fires, antique accessories and cheese fondue whenever you want it.
Need to know
- Rooms 23, including eight suites.
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Rates
Double rooms from $600.00, excluding tax at 11.7 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional service charge of 18% per room per night on checkout.
Prices have been converted from the hotel's local currency ($600), via XE.com, using today's exchange rate.
- More details Rates include breakfast and champagne, cheese and fruit on arrival.
- Facilities Tennis courts, ice-skating, croquet, snow-shoeing, billiards room, cross-country skiing, 220-acre grounds, spa, gym, CD/DVD/book library and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: flatscreen TV, CD/DVD player, iPod dock, bottled water and Kiehl’s products.
- Poolside There’s a heated pool outside by the Carriage House and spa.
- Check-out 11am, but flexible if there’s availability. Earliest check-in, 12pm (or whenever you arrive if the room’s ready).
- Children Over-12s only, unless you’re hiring out the whole property, in which case all ages are welcome and cots will be supplied free. Extra beds are US$100 a night. Babysitting with hotel staff can be requested at any time for US$25 an hour.
- Eco-friendly Blantyre uses natural gas, recycles most things and sends its staff on errands around the property in electric cars.
- Also The Potting Shed spa has a greenhouse with a hot tub, wood-burning fireplace, steam room and sauna – as well as a list of tempting treatments.
Food and drink at Blantyre
- Hotel restaurant The top-notch dining room is regal and romantic, with pink tablecloths, oriental rugs and burnished wood furnishings. In the evenings, dinner is quiet, candlelit and intimate. The French-American menu changes with each season, but keep your eyes peeled for caramelised diver-caught scallops from Maine, rack of lamb with morels, and châteaubriand for two. The chef also creates a five-course tasting menu, accompanied by various wines from the global collection. Picnic hampers can be packed up for you to take on a ramble around the estate.
- Dress code Bordering on black tie (jackets for men, and something equally elegant for women).
- Top table Have the hotel set up breakfast or dinner by the fireplace in your bedroom.
- Last orders Formal eating hours are: breakfast, 7.30am–10.30am; lunch, 12.30pm–1.45pm; dinner, 5.30pm–8.30pm, but food can be brought to you wherever you are at any time (look out for snow barbecues in the winter).
- Room service Selected snacks, hot food and platters are available 24 hours a day.
- Hotel bar The bar is more of a drinks trolley, set up in the Main Hall so guests can order a drink and then pick a seat here, in the Music Room or out on the covered terrace. Things pick up when the pianist gets tinkling from 6.30pm.
Also worth knowing
- Weddings This property is suitable for weddings. More...
Blantyre 16 Blantyre Road, Lenox, Berkshires, 01240
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In the know
Our favourite rooms
For full old-world exposure, make sure you book one of the eight rooms in the main house. We especially like the Crimson Suite’s palatial four-poster, dressing room with a vanity table lined with antique silver accessories, wood-burning fireplace, huge bath tub and spacious terrace. Second place goes to the Laurel Suite, which has parquet floors, a palette of pinks, creams and yellows, and overlooks the gardens at the back of the house.
Packing tips
Don’t forget your finery for evening meals; leave your snow boots behind – the hotel has some you can borrow.
Also
Blantyre has chilly weather covered: snuggle up in the Warming Hut to play pool, watch TV or settle into an armchair. There’s also a hot chocolate menu, and the option of cheese fondue, which can be served any time anywhere in the grounds.
