Forty-two rooms, a candle-lit spa and a kitchen led by the seasons — set within twelve acres of garden, orchard and water meadow, a short walk from Winchester Cathedral.
Built in 1873 as a private shooting lodge on the Duke of Buckingham's estate, The Winchester has watched over the Itchen Valley for one hundred and fifty years. We acquired the house in 2014 and closed the doors for three full years — lifting floorboards, exposing fireplaces, and rebuilding the orangery by hand.
What remains is the spirit of an English country home: log fires in the grate, well-thumbed books on every shelf, and a kitchen that wakes early to walk the garden before service. We hope you feel, within minutes of arriving, that you have been here before.
Whether you are here to celebrate, retreat or simply rest, the house offers a setting to match the season. Each is considered, composed and quietly distinctive.
Forty-two bedrooms across the main house, the converted stables and the orchard wing. Linen sheets, roll-top baths, Roberts radios and a complimentary decanter of sloe gin on arrival.
Below stairs, the original cellars have been reborn as a candle-lit water spa. A 17-metre pool, two sauna cabins, a hay-fired steam dome and four treatment rooms using wild-foraged botanicals.
One AA Rosette and a Kitchen Garden Fermentary. A daily-changing menu built around what the garden gives us that morning — long lunches, slow Sundays and a tasting menu by candlelight.
Everything we serve comes from within thirty miles. The venison is stalked on the Bere Peninsula, the trout is pulled from the Test at dawn, and the honey on your breakfast table is gathered from our own hives in the orchard.
The spa's cedar sauna was built by a third-generation cooper from the New Forest. The linen on your bed was woven in Ireland, but cut and stitched in Winchester by a seamstress two streets away. This is luxury rooted in place — not in provenance labels, but in the hands that shaped it.
Plan Your StayTell us what brings you to the valley. Our reservations team will reply within twelve hours — every enquiry is read by a person, never a queue.