June, 2014 saw us take a trip to East Sussex where, after a day in Brighton – a semi-regular day-trip along the coast – we drove a little way north to the village of Buxted. The reason for the drive was to get to Buxted Park and, specifically, the rather fancy hotel set in a Georgian mansion there as we’d booked an overnight stay for my wife’s birthday.
The site of Buxted Park itself is mostly grassland and is a former deer park with records of it as far back as the twelfth century. After checking in and dropping off our overnight bags in our room we took a short walk around the grounds of the hotel. An artificial lake is a prominent landmark in the park and the entire area is considered a Site of Special Scientific Interest because of its large and varied colonies of birds and invertebrates.
Just to the north of the hotel grounds is the Church of St Margaret the Queen. The Margaret in question was the Hungarian-born Saint Margaret of Scotland, sister to Edgar Ætheling who had been elected king of England in 1066 following the death of Harold at the Battle of Hastings, but was never crowned as William had other ideas. Fleeing north to Scotland she married King Malcolm III. The oldest part of the church dates from the thirteenth century when Margaret was canonized by Pope Innocent IV, although additions were made to it in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
We particularly liked this sign on the gate to the churchyard: Pray No Dog Fouling In The Churchyard.
The mansion and country house that is the core of Buxted Park Hotel was originally in 1725. As with a lot of old buildings that we visit around the world this has required some additional work to restore it over the years following a fire and many of the features present on the structure today, though still eighteenth century, were taken from other buildings during remodelling.
In the 1960s the site was opened as a hydrotherapy centre. A garden wing building was added and a swimming pool was built. Famous visitors to Buxted Park at that time included Gregory Peck, Marlon Brando, and Dudley Moore.
Our room was large, spacious, and fairly typical for these fancy hotels. We had a lovely view down the well-tended lawns of the grounds but I didn’t get around to taking any photos of the room or bathroom, of the drinks we had in the bar, nor of the meal we enjoyed in the restaurant that evening. You’ll just have to imagine those parts of our stay at Buxted Park.
