HOW WOULD A perfectionist serve up nibbles? It's not a problem I've considered previously but when I saw what was on the living room table of our guest suite at York House Rooms, I knew the owner was reassuringly obsessive.
On a small, three-in-one
dish lay four plump raspberries, their tips pointing up like pyramids, arranged in a perfect square; next was a generous mound of shelled pistachio nuts; and finally four fat, red grapes, sliced at the top and inverted so that they stood like soldiers, again in a square, to complete the symmetry. I'd have been fine with a bowl of Hula Hoops but normal standards no longer apply around here.
We had arrived in the village of Easebourne, West Sussex, on one of the hottest days of the year to be greeted by the owners, Ian and Felicity Lock. After leaving our bags in the room and scoffing the edible art installation, we joined them in their Victorian walled garden. There were topiaries of box and yew and Margaret Merrill roses still in bud.
Out came the cold white wine. "Yes, Felicity is a perfectionist," says Ian. She learned her impeccable style as an assistant to Jennifer Hocking, fashion editor on Harper's Bazaar in the 1960s, before changing career, choosing instead to design houses and gardens for clients such as the Cadogan Estate.
Ian, a one-time farmer, sold up in 1990 and the pair bought a house in the Ruthern Valley in north Cornwall, which they ran as a Wolsey Lodge. They offer a completely different take on that much-maligned of British institutions, the B&B.
There are just two bedroom suites, side by side in a building adjacent to their stone cottage where the garage used to be. We were in the Blue Suite, a low-ceilinged doll's house of soft blues, greys and taupe. There are beautiful books on art and hotels, the latest magazines and even a cashmere-covered hot-water bottle in the cupboard – not that we'd be needing it. I'd packed a bag of toiletries but after discovering the bathroom, I wished I hadn't bothered. The Laufen sink, sitting amid neat piles of White Company towels, was festooned with Aromatherapy Associates products. I began to look for further signs of a true perfectionist.
Upstairs, the teacups were Jasper Conran for Wedgwood, the biscuits were Duchy Originals, the milk – aha, a masterstroke – was in its own flask in its own mini-fridge. No thimbles of UHT here. The bedside drawer held sachets of medicines for every eventuality – Resolve, Gaviscon, Immodium. The last hotel to seriously impress me was the Four Seasons in Hampshire, but I doubt if even its housekeeper could find anything amiss here.
If you are looking for somewhere to stay for a weekend, Felicity, fastidious in her attention to detail, is the sort of person you want in charge. What we'd actually been looking for was just a one-day getaway, leaving Sunday morning and coming back Monday midday. It's a big ask to hand over three young children for a weekend, so we thought we'd try a condensed version.
Our room wasn't ready until later in the afternoon so we headed to West Wittering to join the population of West Sussex paddling in the Channel. It was like a Massimo Vitali photograph, but with pitbulls and portable barbecues. Propped against the wooden tide breakers reading the Sunday newspapers, we observed the English at play as the temperature rose to 26C.
The York House Rooms was an oasis by comparison. "I just love looking after people here," says Felicity, who has been running the rooms in Easebourne for four years now. "It's wonderful to welcome them on arrival, probably having had a dreadful journey, and see them relax once they are in their suites."
For supper, we drove ten minutes down the road to the Halfway Bridge pub in Lodsworth, another B&B conversion recently named as one of the 100 finest places to stay in England. West Sussex seems to be full of them. The food was good and the service friendly, and we drove back to spend the night on the sofa in front of a great French movie called The Chorus, with me painting my toenails and half reading the latest issue of House and Garden at the same time (one night isn't long enough to let go of all that multi-tasking).
After a hot bath and eight hours of uninterrupted sleep came the highlight of our stay – breakfast. In her pristine white apron, Felicity greeted us at bang on 8:30am. The fruit platter looked so amazing that we felt compelled to take a picture. Freshly-squeezed orange juice and pots of tea and coffee were followed by yoghurt and delicious homemade muesli, creamy scrambled eggs – her secret is to add an extra yolk and "whisk like mad" – crispy bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms and sautéed potatoes straight from the Aga. She even makes her own croissants, I've never heard of anyone doing that before.
But then Felicity is like no other B&B landlady. Here in West Sussex, life's not too short to serve grapes that stand up. And long may it last.
Factfile: EasebourneHow to get there• Rail travel from Scotland to Haslemere station starts from £42 from Edinburgh or Glasgow, visit www.thetrainline.com
Where to stay• Doubles at York House Rooms, Easebourne Street, Easebourne start from £140 per night B&B. Tel: 01730 814 090, visit
www.yorkhouserooms.co.ukAnd there's more• Halfway Bridge Inn, Lodsworth, West Sussex. Tel: 01798 861281, visit
www.halfwaybridge.co.ukThe full article contains 959 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
