The Credentials:
The Felbridge is the highest AA-rated four-star hotel in the South of England. Add to that an award for Best Eating Experience in Sussex and a spa chock-full of treatments and you get a hotel that practically screams weekend break.
Dine:
About 10 per cent of restaurants nationwide are worthy of an AA rosette. Anise (one of two restaurants at the hotel) has two and £35 for three courses is easily worth it as the food is imaginative and delicious.
All sorts of nostalgic comfort dishes have been re-invented for our palates over the last decade but a starter of Sussex blue cheese fondant (a cheese souffle by any other name) slipped lovingly down my throat; its hearty pungency tempered by the accompanying watercress panna cotta. Surf and turf got a satisfying new spin with turbot with braised oxtail before the chef knocked it out of the park with dessert. It’s not often that all three servings at dinner are good, but ‘Lemons’, a homage to the zesty citrus, consisting of five components including tart, syllabub and a shot of limoncello for good measure, made sure of a wholly satisfying feed. Oh, and the wine list is flexible enough to allow for most grape preferences and bank balances.
Sleep:
Our luxury junior suite was cool, sleek and modern, with a leather-tiled wall and quirkily angled armchairs. Cream-coloured lampshades and white sheets on the big whale of a bed offset the darker brown and black tones: this was a sexy room. The Elemis products in the bathroom got an appreciative nod before we filched them and there was a bath that you could swim lengths in. Twin sinks too, so no fear of the Mrs growling at me to get out of the way in the two minutes it takes me to rub wax in my hair and deodorant under my armpits. There are also a lot of mirrors and reflective surfaces, which got me thinking that if it’s a dirty weekend that you’re after (and why not?) then there are a multitude of angles in which to observe your technique.
Who Goes There?
Every kind of a person. There’s a ballroom for weddings, so we happened across several other couples that were guests when we were in the pool, along with a group of women having a ‘girls weekend’ and not a hen night, as they were keen to point out. A coach load of pensioners were doing damage to the buffet breakfast on the Sunday morning.
Out & About:
What with the food, the room, the spa and the pool, I have to admit we didn’t actually get out. If you have to, there’s a nearby golf course and Lingfield race course. Kids might like the Bluebell Railway if you’re mad enough to have brought them with you..
The Best Thing:
Everything inside the complex (the food, the rooms, the spa, the staff) is good. Everything outside is a bit crap – it is East Grinstead after all.
The Worst Thing:
The exterior of the Felbridge is naff faux Tudor style and on top of that it’s located on the A22, which has a constant thunder of traffic. The buffet breakfast is also a bit ropey. It shouldn’t be hard to get good sausages given the plethora of Sussex farms and it takes only minutes to cook most kinds of eggs but still we were stuck with greasy, re-heated scrambled and bog standard bangers. Come on Felbridge – sort it out!
