Hotel Grosvenor
Style Revamped Georgian retreat
Setting Shaftesbury’s Hovis hilltop
Crowning Dorset’s beautiful Blackmore Vale, Shaftesbury has Old-England charm down to the last cobble, but now that the newly reinvented Hotel Grosvenor is on the scene, there’s something for the more modern-minded visitor, too. The listed Georgian façade belies the slick contemporary interior, and its Greenhouse restaurant provides a flash of modern fine-dining finesse to a land of gastropub lunches and Sunday roasts.
Need to know
- Rooms 16, including three suites.
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Rates
Double rooms from $175.45 (£112), excluding tax at 20 per cent.
Prices have been converted from the hotel's local currency (£112), via XE.com, using today's exchange rate.
- More details Rates include breakfast.
- Facilities Small library, courtyard garden, ballroom, free WiFi throughout. In rooms: flatscreen TV, iPod dock, coffee maker, bottled water.
- Check-out 11am; earliest check-in, 3pm. Both can be flexible on request.
- Children Welcome. Cots are free for babies, and extra beds are £35 a night. Hotel staff are happy to babysit for £10 an hour – just arrange before midday for the evening you need a sitter. More...
- Also Pets are welcome – ask ahead. There’s one room adapted for mobility-impaired guests, and a lift to the first floor.
Food and drink at Hotel Grosvenor
- Hotel restaurant Treasure by name, treasure by culinary talent: the Greenhouse’s chef, Mark Treasure, is blazing a trail in Dorset’s gastropub-dominated cuisine scene with Michelin-friendly fine-dining delicacies. The menu may be small, but it makes use of fresh, local ingredients to create plates worthy of a Parisian gastronome. The salmon and ginger ravioli in langoustine bisque is unforgettable.
- Dress code Wear what you like – but these dishes are worth dressing up for.
- Top table Go for the cosy, quite private table by the fire, or take a spot by the kitchen so you can enviously eye up other diner’s dishes as they arrive on the pass.
- Last orders Dinner is served between 7pm and 9.30pm (9pm Sunday), and lunch between midday and 2pm (2.30pm on weekends). The bar opens for soft drinks at 10am, and closes when there’s no guests left to prop it up.
- Room service None.
- Hotel bar Dotted with sculptures, adorned with art, and resembling a designer’s loft space thanks to the assortment of modern mismatched furniture, the Grosvenor’s bar spills out into the courtyard in summer. It’s a great place for lazy cocktails or to sample an ale from the nearby Keystone brewery.
Also worth knowing
- Weddings This property is suitable for weddings. More...
Hotel Grosvenor The Commons Shaftesbury, Dorset, SP7 8JA
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Smith extra at Hotel Grosvenor
An assortment of home-made truffles and fudge
In the know
Our favourite rooms
In summer, pick Junior Suite 9, the only room in the hotel with a balcony, and a lovely one it is too, overlooking the hotel’s central courtyard. In winter, go for the Cranborne Suite, where there’s not only a working fireplace, but also vast bay windows, a free standing bath and a shower that could accommodate a significant proportion of Shaftesbury’s residents at the same time. The rooms facing the courtyard (3, 4, 9, 15 and 16) are a mite more peaceful.
Packing tips
Shaftesbury’s the heart of Dorset rambler’s country, so bring your boots ’n’ Barbour combo.
Also
If you plan to explore, ask the hotel to prepare you a packed lunch. Transport can be arranged if you fancy a few rounds on the nearby Rushmore golf course or a microlight flight from Compton Abbas Airfield.
From the Guestbook…
The food at the Greenhouse is excellent but if you fancy a change, Chutney's in Salisbury Street is a refined Indian serving far better fare than many a London restaurant. Try the ...
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