Cinematic Locations and the Art of Heritage Restoration: George Clarke’s PoB Break

The Elizabethan building has a strikingly different extension in the form of a glass dining room. But when George talks about a “mini architectural wonder,” he’s referring not to the manor but to the oval-shaped walled kitchen garden, which he calls an “amphitheatre for great food”.

The surrounding gardens, transformed by William Robinson, who pioneered the creation of the English natural garden after he bought Gravetye in 1885, are like a “garden architectural experiment”, enthuses George, pointing out that they are Grade II listed, while the manor is Grade I listed. “The mix of architecture and landscape is second to none”.

In the flat-roofed glass extension of a dining room, he feasts his eyes on the gardens while enjoying George Blogg’s Michelin-starred menus, using produce grown just feet away. The nature-inspired décor in the interior complements it all. “When an extension is this simple, the details have to be pin sharp,” he says appreciatively. “Extensions used to be about blending in. Now when you talk to Historic England, their philosophy is that they need to be of their time.”

Elsewhere, there is plenty of period grandeur in the manor, with its wood panelling, decorative ceilings and a “chunky staircase that feels quite baronial” leading to the Robinson Suite, where George is staying. He loves flicking through Robinson’s books there while gazing out at the famous gardens.

He also appreciates the history behind the R and K initials carved into Gravetye’s stonework – Richard Infield built the manor for his bride, Katharine Compton. “I am always a fan of people who leave their mark on a building,” says George. “It’s a bit like having a beautiful vintage car with a badge on it.”

Vintage cars are ten a penny in his next destination, a two-hour pootle away in the New Forest – the village of Beaulieu, with its National Motor Museum. The pretty village is frequently used for period film sets and is home to the ruins of an impressive abbey. It’s just a couple of minutes’ walk from George’s base, the Montagu Arms, which was a typical sixteenth-century inn before its front was replaced in 1887 by an arts and craft style building.

Beaulieu isn’t new to George, who visited while filming for his Amazing Spaces programme, but he still loves the unique feel of it. “The abbey feels semi-French in style so you have this mad mix of Cistercian French-style abbey alongside an arts and crafts beautiful roadside inn. It’s bonkers really,” he says.

Arts and crafts is one of his favourite architectural periods because of its romantic mix of styles. “When you look at the chimneys outside the Montagu Arms, they are absolutely neo-gothic chimneys,” he says. “But it feels quite Tudor along the gables.”

Within the Grade II listed building, the oak flooring, panelling and brick fireplaces have the feel of a lovely country inn, muses George. “It feels very rich in detail with good-quality materials, particularly around the windows.”

He is staying in one of the more modern rooms, with pitched roof, high ceilings and period details such as the quality brickwork and roof tiling, which contrast with a large expanse of glass on one side, creating what he dubs a “hybrid between the old and new”.

In the public rooms, period photographs of vintage cars line the walls to remind you where you are, while outside, it’s common to see old cars putter past. “It’s very quintessentially English,” George sums up.

Yet it couldn’t be more different from his third and final stop, an easy two-hour drive away at Hartwell House in Buckinghamshire.

“It’s off the scale for cinematic locations,” says George of the stately home, one of three Historic House Hotels owned by the National Trust, of which he is an ambassador. “It’s also a great example of a building that has had some amazing extensions over a number of years…You have an ancient Jacobean building that was massively enlarged with a big, grand stunning Georgian extension in the Tuscan style at the back.”

Badly damaged by fire in 1963, the Grade I listed house has been painstakingly restored to its former grandeur, with decorative ceilings and panelling in the elegant rooms. “One of my favourite spaces was the curved hallway that is double or triple height,” says George. “The hand-carved staircase is mind boggling.”

There’s time to enjoy the spa, a five-minute walk away from the main house, and to appreciate the neo-classical archways around the pool as well as the superb treatments.

Dinner brings a treat, both in the form of the superb food and because it is served in the elegant dining room with an arched, vaulted ceiling, inspired by Sir John Soane, one of George’s architecture heroes. After dinner, he sits in the beautiful gardens, designed by a contemporary of Capability Brown, marvelling at the Georgian extension.

Then it’s back up the staircase to bed, where George is delighted to be staying in the Louis XVIII suite. It’s not a random name; the king and his court spent five years in exile at Hartwell during the Napoleonic Wars.

It’s certainly a room fit for a king – large, grand, and particularly beautiful in the morning light. But then the whole building is magnificent. “The next level from Hartwell would be Downton,” concludes George.