The Cliveden Hotel, Taplow, Berkshire, England
A favorite hotel for many famous guests who want to stay close to London but need fresh air and high luxury.
On a bluff high above the River Thames at Taplow, just a little upstream from the town of Maidenhead in Berkshire sits Cliveden house. Cliveden House was originally built by the second Duke of Buckingham in 1666. The present house, the third on the site, was built by Charles Barry for the Duke of Sutherland in 1851. There are traces of the earlier buildng still visible from the formal parterre.
This
gorgeous Italianate palace was once home to the socialite millionaire Astor
family and was the location of the scandalous Profumo affair in the 1960s.
During the Cold War, The Secretary of State for War John Profumo met a showgirl
Christine Keeler at a party at Cliveden. Ms Keeler was also having relations
with a Russian naval attaché. Profumo's indiscretion led to his resignation,
and helped in the collapse of Harold MacMillan's government.
The whole place is Grade 1 listed and leased from the National Trust whose strict rules ensure the decorations and fittings are totally in keeping with the property, ensuring that the visitors do not get some erzats experience of Edwardian nostalgia, Cliveden is very much the real thing.
Guests at Cliveden have included every British monarch since King George I. Apparently Queen Victoria was very fond of Cliveden and came very regularly when in Windsor, a few miles downstream. More recently, Colin Powell, Michael Jackson and a wealth of today's rich an famous stay at Cliveden and enjoy the great public gardens covering almost 400 acres. The formal gardens feature some fantastic sculptures brought back from Italy by the Astors over 100 years ago.
The
restaurant is world class as one would expect, and the staff are five star
behaving in the understated but ruthlessly efficient manner that country house
domestics always acted in a bygone era. However, above all that, the truth
is that it is the rooms themselves that keep people coming back. The Astor
suite is a tribute to the taste (and wealth) of the previous owners and enchant
every guest that stays there.
The nearest train Stations are Burnham and Bourne End on the branch line out of Maidenhead, though I suspect few guests at Cliveden use public transport.
Cliveden House
Cliveden, Taplow
Berkshire, SL6 OJF
Tel: +44 (0) 1628 668561
CB - April 2006
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