english escapes // a family weekend at the four seasons hotel hampshire

– This post, “english escapes // a family weekend at the four seasons hotel hampshire” includes affiliate links. This means that if you decide to book some of the below recommendations, we may receive a small commission. –

Before I started writing about our last trip to Rome as a family of three, I made a list of all the trips we’ve taken since Henry was born. It was mainly because I plan to catch up on blogging, but I was still curious to see the ground we’ve covered with two kids in tow. I had obviously expected our family’s travel style to change again once he arrived, and I also expected us to slow down. Somehow, almost inexplicably, we’ve still managed to travel quite a bit… and things haven’t changed that dramatically. Most notably, we’ve become even bigger fans of proper English escapes. Every once in awhile, there’s just something about getting out of London and plopping down somewhere in the countryside.

We’ve always been pretty into the Cotswolds, and this trip to Dorset was a before-baby-deux family fave. It wasn’t until we added our tiniest member that we realized! We may be just shy of five years living in the UK (!!!), but this country is still extremely new to us.

When I realized last summer that Jeff’s birthday weekend lined up with his first Father’s Day as a dad of two, it was obvious. This was the perfect excuse to plan something close, but special. I researched places that would easily (and relatively affordably) arrange a car service for us from London, ensuring a breezy escape where we could all zone out from start to finish.

Enter:

The Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire

Full disclosure: it is almost definitely cheaper to rent a car, especially if you’re just going for 24 hours. But for a special occasion? £150 each way for a private, door-to-door car transfer with zero stress was well worth it. At 9 AM on a Saturday morning, a Mercedes van pulled up in front of our flat. Our driver quickly loaded up our luggage, while Jeff installed our two car seats. By 10 AM, we were merrily on our way (with two kids snoozing shortly thereafter). It is chaos getting four people out the door, but I built in some extra time to soften the blow. Mark my words: this was key.

Just over 90 minutes later, we were pulling up to the Four Seasons. Our laid-back, late morning arrival meant time to explore the grounds and suss out a relaxing lunch on-site.

We spent the next 24 hours exclusively at the hotel. The pressures of getting out and exploring the area pretty much disappeared without a car. We of course could have arranged excursions with the hotel if we wanted. But I had booked this hotel because there was plenty to do on hand, so leaving didn’t feel necessary. Plus, once Margot realized there were horses, a playground, AND a pool, we were practically busy!

We had our first little lunch at Cafe Santé, but ate the rest of our meals at Wild Carrot (with stops at the adjacent bar before dinner on Saturday and Father’s Day roast on Sunday). We spent Saturday afternoon splashing around the indoor pool, surrounded by other families with kids. On Sunday morning, I booked a private hour-long tennis lesson for Jeff. We roamed the grounds, and walked up to the stables to visit the horses. We also visited the playground, and strolled through the gardens.

We’ve stayed in plenty of hotels that welcome kids with open arms, but this one embraced us with a warm hug. It was exactly what I (and I think we all) needed at 10-weeks postpartum. At 6 and a half weeks, we had already taken Henry back to the states for a family wedding. It was a two week whirlwind that included Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. We had a blast, but as often happens when we cross timezones these days, Jeff and I came back more jetlagged than the kids. That will always be our extremely special first trip as a family of four, but this felt like our first true break. It was like we had been holding our collective breath the last 2.5 months, and at the Four Seasons Hampshire, we could finally exhale.

We showed up for the first seating at nearly every meal, but the other families were rarely far behind us. There were a ton of other kids exactly where you expected to see them. The restaurants were lively, they had bike rentals for every age. The indoor pool during children’s hours was a sight to behold. But it still, somehow, managed to never feel like a hotel for kids. I might have felt differently if I were visiting without my own little ones, but honestly, I’m not sure. It seemed like a place you could easily go for a couples’ escape or a spa retreat. Kids were around, but there were also lots of spaces tucked away where they weren’t roaming freely.

Since I can only attest to what our experience was like with kids, then I can assure you you’ll feel at home from the moment you walk in the door. As with other FS properties, it felt like there were about five staff members for every guest, and everyone knew our family’s names immediately.

But the most baby-friendly thing I noticed? The public bathrooms (male AND female) all had fully-stocked changing tables! I’m talking nappies and wipes and creams and cotton swabs, with swim nappies on hand in the spa changing rooms. Our room also had tons of goodies for little ones. It was chock full of bath toys, special treats, cute messages scribbled on the mirrors, and kid-sized bathrobes. They even included a nappy bin in our hotel room which seriously? Without saying too much… when you have two kids in nappies, this is HUUUUUGE. We’ve only stayed in one other hotel since then that has thought to do this, and it’s such a small but meaningful gesture.

I’m aware this is reading like one giant advertisement for the Four Seasons, but this wasn’t a sponsored stay. And I will say this: if I have one complaint, it’s that the rooms could all use a refresh. The hotel itself is beautiful and feels new and modern, so I was really surprised to find that our room, at least, felt tired. We didn’t actually spend much time in the room so it didn’t bother us a ton, but I think a big room reno is due.

We’ve had other similarly amazing and exceptionally family-friendly stays at Gleneagles, Daylesford Cottages, and the Pig at Combe within the UK, and The Four Seasons Orlando and Verdura Resort abroad … but I’ll get to those later.

xo!

ashley

– This post, “english escapes // a family weekend at the four seasons hotel hampshire” includes affiliate links. This means that if you decide to book some of the above recommendations, we may receive a small commission. –