The Alfriston hotel review: a reimagined South Downs spa stay

Times

23-05-2025

When you park outside the Alfriston hotel's main entrance, it seems impossible that behind the tiny, wisteria-clad frontage are two restaurants, 38 bedrooms (of which seven are in the coach house) and a spa. This Tardis-like former country manor, part of which dates from the 14th century, has welcomed guests since the 1930s. Now renamed and refreshed as the Alfriston, the previously tired hotel has been bought by the Signet Collection, a boutique chain. The minigroup, owned by the entrepreneur Hector Ross, has performed CPR on three other historic properties including the Mitre at Hampton Court and the Retreat at Elcot Park (both previous high achievers in the annual Times and Sunday Times 100 Best Places to Stay in the UK list) and Alfriston's makeover follows the same lead. It's a ten-minute drive from Charleston — the early 20th-century hangout of Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf — and the hotel's interior designer Georgie Wykeham has drawn inspiration from the Bloomsbury group's pattern-heavy decorative style. There are five unique suites, with something to suit everyone, from couples to families.
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Score 8/10No expense has been spared on the arts and crafts-style decor in the bedrooms: sofas are upholstered in Colefax and Fowler fabrics, puffy headboards have dramatic elephant prints from GP & J Baker and the carpets are so boingy they're almost trampoline-like. Ground-floor rooms — nearest the restaurant and bar and in the newer part of the building — are mostly standard doubles in the Classic category, although even these come with robes, the Signet Collection's own smellies made by Bramley and a bottle of madeira for a nightcap.
Rooms in the older section vary in size and configuration but offer leaded glass windows and original beams, with the top suites featuring freestanding tubs in the bedroom area, in addition to large rain showers in the bathroom. Family rooms have bunk beds with books and a cuddly lion for little ones. There's room service, but help-yourself pantries stocked with sweets and crisps on each floor will stave off any midnight munchies.
Score 8/10Dinner in the 1554 Brasserie has a slight bias towards seafood, whether it's starters of potted smoked trout, Fowey mussels or daily specials such as a sharing plate of seabass with fennel and salsa verde. But meat fans won't be disappointed with perfectly pink rib-eye steaks, melty slow-cooked lamb and a duck cottage pie topped with heaps of mash. Desserts are imaginative; our favourite was a colossal take on a Ferrero Rocher, with a squidgy chocolate mousse covered in an almond crust.
The wine list is a carefully selected roster of affordable Italian, French and Spanish numbers, plus fine wines available by the glass (from £16) and a special selection of pinot noir and bordeaux.
Breakfast is in the Orangery, with its walls featuring a gorgeous hand-painted woodland design by Florence Sherwood. There is a buffet with serve-yourself teas and coffees and a decent enough selection of components for you to build a full English.
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The 10m heated outdoor pool is popular with families, while inside is a spa with a sauna, relaxation area facing the gardens and three treatment rooms. A new addition since the refurb, the wellness centre has attracted experienced therapists performing bespoke massages and facials from the British beauty brand Gaia. Elsewhere there's a Mucky Boots Welly Wall, where guests can borrow footwear for South Downs yomps. Kayaking on the Cuckmere River and electric bike hire are other ways to explore the local countryside.
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Score 8/10With wonky, half-timbered pubs, elegant tea rooms and a bookshop called Much Ado, Alfriston — inland between Newhaven and Eastbourne — is a cartoonishly quintessential English village. The Alfriston is right on the South Downs Way (you can watch rucksack-clad walkers from the restaurant) so shorter walks to Cuckmere Haven (a nine-mile round trip) through Friston Forest and Westdean are easily done in a day — that's if the Rathfinny Wine Estate's tasting rooms, a 30-minute walk away, don't lure you first (rathfinnyestate.com).
B&B doubles from £150 Restaurant mains from £20Accessible YFamily-friendly YDog-friendly Y
Laura Jackson was was a guest of the Alfriston (thealfriston.com)