When you think of luxury hotels, Leamington Spa is not necessarily the place that springs to mind. Even if it does have "spa" in its name. Hopefully the next few hundred words might change that. If Balham is, according to Peter Sellers, the gateway to the south, then Warwickshire is the gateway to. well, pretty much everywhere. As a Londoner heading to Lancashire, it certainly proved a perfect point to break the drive and Mallory Court Country House Hotel & Spa proved a very nice home from home.
It's not just location, location, location, however much that played a part in my decision to stay at Mallory Court. As you pull off the (quietish) road into the car park, you're confronted with a very pretty, very British country house, surrounded by some very sensitively designed extensions and additional buildings.
Indeed, on first glance, you barely notice the modern additions, just the beautiful, foliage-covered house and your eye is then drawn, via the greenery to yet more greenery, and the beautiful gardens. Once you do adjust, however, there's an impressive amount of space here: 43 bedrooms, two restaurants, a spa (offering ESPA products) and pool, and ten acres of grounds, including a kitchen garden that's well utilised by the chef and their team. There are several terraces - a godsend in the summer of 2022, and very pleasant places to linger over a G&T - a private dining room and a spacious, quiet and elegant lounge.
The main culinary draw at Mallory Court is The Dining Room, its award-winning, three AA Rosette restaurant. Its "Tastes of the Season" menu is exactly that, with the potential of daily changing dishes to reflect what's good that day, from some excellent local suppliers and, closer to home, their own kitchen garden.
Things do not get off to an auspicious start: bar snacks of crispy broad beans and olives are solid options but a little dull by anyone's standards and the olives we're served are some of the worst I've had in recent years. So far, so predictably twee and Middle England, I think to myself, as we're shown into the oak-panelled dining room to suffer eight more such courses. and then, course by course, the cooking improves in quality and confidence, and I'm proved wrong about everything (except the olives).
The next round of snacks do not come pre-prepared or out of a packet, and they're excellent, particularly the asparagus tartlet, confit yolk, and the cod roe, potato which is reminiscent, in the good way, of Rochelle Canteen's similar dish. Mallory garden salad, goats curd and dukkah is an absolute delight, a bright, crunchy and clean wander through their home grown, ultra-seasonal veg. BBQ Loch Duart salmon, with horseradish buttermilk and dill oil is even better. New season lamb, peas, beans, mint and thyme is even better.
A cheese course of Colston Bassett mousse, with pickled shallots and prune puree is clever, sweet and savoury, and dessert - honey-poached apricots which come with almond and orange parfait, an ice cream of home-grown verbena, and honeycomb - is deeply assured cooking; a light, sweet, subtle finish to a very good meal.
Aside from wandering the grounds to justify another eight courses, the hydrotherapy pool is compact but relaxing, the salt sauna and steam room even more so - and there's also an outside sauna, glass fronted for Warwickshire countryside views. If you want to wander the grounds, picnics can be arranged. Alternatively, Leamington Spa is a fine base from which to explore the county, with Warwick and Stratford-upon-Avon just a short distance away.
With 43 bedrooms, you'd expect Mallory Court to be rammed yet, somehow, while there's a buzz at dinner and breakfast, there's also enough space to make this a genuinely relaxing experience.
Being located a short distance from the M40 means Mallory Court is easily accessible by car (and the website includes both clear instructions and a sat-nav friendly postcode which isn't always the case). It's also well signposted as you approach. For the non-driver, Leamington Spa station is a moderate cab ride away.
Mallory Court Country House Hotel & Spa, Harbury Lane, Bishops Tachbrook, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, CV33 9QB; mallory.co.uk