Mr & Mrs Smith

Spring Cottage

Berkshire, United Kingdom

Cliveden’s riverside guesthouse is hidden away on the leafy banks of the stately home’s magnificent National Trust-owned grounds. It’s not your regular 19th-century three-bedroom guesthouse – this five-star hotel’s holiday house has its own butler. If that isn’t thrill enough, how’s about the revelation that this holiday home was where Profumo and friends frolicked in the run-up to the huge political scandal in the Sixties?

Need to know

• Rates information From £1,545–£1,745 a night plus VAT.
• Ideal for Special family occasions (mum and dad, granny and grandpa and two juniors), discreet escapes for visiting dignitaries.
• Sleeps Six. The cottage has two double rooms and a children's bedroom which sleeps two.
• Property style Originally built as a secluded summerhouse by the Countess of Orkney in 1813, in the 1870s the Duchess of Sutherland had this mock-Tudor guest cottage extended.
• Grounds As well as being set amid Cliveden’s spectacular 376 acres of National Trust gardens and parklands, the cottage has its own private leafy garden and swathe of grassy river banks. Nestled in the woods on the very edge of the tranquil Thames, stray out
• Minimum hire Three nights at weekends, four nights during the week.
• Children The third bedroom is best suited to one or two children and there is a stash of board games. This property is right on the river so it's not ideal if you have intrepid toddlers, better suited probably to eight-year-olds and up. More...
• Booking process All prices shown are total prices for the ‘hideaway’ package, which includes breakfast and excludes VAT. Smith deposit taken when you book. A deposit of £300 is required at booking and is non-refundable. Full payment is required 14 days prior to arrival. If the reservation is made a fortnight prior full payment is required.
• Also The cottage is non-smoking throughout, but there is plenty of outdoor space; pets are allowed.

Floor plan

• Bedrooms

  Spring Cottage feels as though it has two master bedrooms – both doubles are grand.
  
  Downstairs, across from the TV room, is a roomy riverside boudoir with an ensuite down a little internal hallway. That huge freestanding tub must have played host to many aristocratic ablutions in its time.
  
  Upstairs, a very pretty bedroom overlooks the Thames with the sort of dressing table you can just picture a Sixties starlet grooming herself to perfection.
  
  Across the small hallway is a vast Toile du Jouy-decorated bathroom with antique luxuries such as old-fashioned scales and a lengthy cushioned windowseat – perfect if your luxuriating in the tub is likely to pull a crowd.
  
  On this floor this bathroom is shared with a smaller navy-blue children’s bedroom; the single bed has a pull-out trundle mattress. There is also plenty of room for a cot. Sneak into the eaves cupboards and you’ll find a few extra board games.

• Kitchen

  One imagines this is intended more for the staff to prepare your meals in than for guests to sully themselves using personally. Should you want to whip up a snack, your butler will be happy to provide a tea and biscuits or a platter of cold cuts. There is also an extensive menu for room service.

• Living room

  There’s a cosy sitting room with a big telly and comfy sofas – perfect for adjourning to with a nightcap.

• Dining room

  This vaulted, lead-windowed room has a basilical feel with a huge round table that can seat up to ten comfortably. A cosy nook by the fire begs that you make the most of the shelves of games around the corner. This reception room is made all the more special with the way it leads to its private Secret Garden-like riverbank grounds.

• Poolside

  The Pavilion Spa is a ten-minute stroll or chauffeured drive away. Here you'll find heated indoor and outdoor pools where you can really live out your Profumo fantasies – well, within the bounds of respectable hotel-style behaviour.

• Gardens

  As well as your own pocket of foliage-filled riverside grounds complete with a small boat mooring, the National Trust gardens beyond include water gardens and topiary splendour.

• Private parking

  Guests park their own cars at the main hotel and are chauffeured to the cottage whenever needed.

Also worth knowing

• Weddings This property is suitable for weddings. More...