History hovers everywhere around this Hampshire hotel. The White Horse Romsey is set in the small town of Romsey home to a magnificent Abbey (dating as far back as 907 AD) with its Norman architecture. Here also is King John’s House once used as his hunting lodge. As for Romsey Market, in the town’s piazza, it’s from the 12th century when King Henry Ist granted to the Abbess of Romsey Abbey the rights to hold a weekly market.
Pride of place is given to a statue of Lord Palmerston, a reforming Prime Minister who lived much of his life at the family’s country estate at Broadlands. The Estate later became the home of Lord Mountbatten and, in 1947, was where Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip spent the first part of their honeymoon, 8 years after their initial meeting. The Estate is just on the outskirts of the town and The White Horse is the only local place to stay from which to visit it.
As one of the 12 oldest hotels in Britain, The White Horse Romsey was originally a guest house for the abbey before becoming a 14th-century coaching inn for over 600 years. It’s part of The Coaching Inn Group which has passionately restored wonderful historic coaching inns. The coaching inn was a vital part of British transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing food, drink, and rest for travelers and their horses. Coaching inns stabled teams of horses for stagecoaches and mail coaches and replaced tired teams with fresh teams. In America, ‘stage stations’ performed these functions.
The White Horse Romsey has a charming black-and-white Georgian façade over the main marketplace. Down a well-lit alleyway, or ‘coachway’ as it’s called, I reached the reception in the historic half of the hotel. It all felt so typically ‘British Countryside and so wonderfully old. Here there were lots of authentic features with original Tudor wall markings. Afternoon Tea was being served in the Tudor Lounge with its original frescos and wallpaper. Next door was Lord Palmerston Lounge with its heavy beams made from reclaimed ship’s timbers. Lots of nooks and crannies in this hotel. A number of low, dark, solid, oak beams. Occasional pictures of white horses, as a nod to the hotel’s name.
All of the 29 rooms are unique in shape, size, and decoration. Some have original period features. There are Classic Single and Double rooms, Superior Twin and Double rooms, Deluxe Loft Rooms (set over 2 floors), Deluxe Double rooms, and a Deluxe Suite (a penthouse with views of Romsey and the countryside beyond). My cozy superior double room had wallpaper with historic scenes of romance and matching curtains and a balcony with shutters. It had a Roberts radio, plump pillows, soft linen, and a fluffy bathrobe. My bathroom products were made by the luxury brand Harrogate.
In the hotel’s modern half is a collection of buildings. There’s a private dining room, a ‘Tack and Forge’ place used for smaller functions, and ‘The Stables’, with their white canopies outside, for larger ones. There are several places to eat including an alfresco patio and food is served all day. There’s a thoroughfare open to the public with outdoor chairs and tables and it’s where you might catch the live music.
Within is The Restaurant. Above the spaciously placed tables and their tartan tub chairs are 6 chandeliers and below part-wood, part-carpeted flooring. Most of the walls are open glass, giving it a liberating indoors-outdoors feel. The rest have framed black and white photographs from Edwardian days of chefs and their kitchen staff from London’s top hotels.
The food is excellent, fairly priced, and served in generous helpings. As the menu states Virginia Woolf’s line: “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well if one has not dined well”. I loved my English asparagus with edamame and cashew nut houmous followed by a Sunday roast that came with all the trimmings including root vegetable purée and buttered spring greens and peas.
Local attractions include the New Forest (6 miles away), a gorgeous expanse of trees and heathland where I could ramble and horses roam freely across the roads, and the River Test with its chalk streams perfect for trout fishing. The National Motor Museum at Beaulieu is a short drive and 14 miles away are both Winchester and Salisbury with their stunning cathedrals. I met some very happy American guests waiting for their Cruise ship to dock nearby in Southampton (9 miles away). They were sorely tempted to stay on at The White Horse Romsey. As indeed was I.
