Review: A luxury stay at Fairmont Windsor Park in Surrey
Rest in your outdoor Jacuzzi, play a round of golf or bike across the expansive gardens when you stay at the Treehouse Suite at Fairmont Windsor Park.
We've all stayed in hotels with noisy neighbours. But perhaps not the kind of neighbours who have fluffy tails or fly. Still, when you stay in one of the new and rather luxurious Treehouse Suites at Fairmont Windsor Park in Surrey, you are choosing to inhabit their world, if only for a short time – the world of the scampering squirrel, the rustling deer, the flitting bat, the warbling song thrush, the rattling magpie, the hooting owl… and, of course, being so close to London, the incessant squeak of the antisocial parakeet, no matter how well dressed. One must always make allowances for the locals.
On the lake behind the copse that is your immediate neighbourhood while staying in a Treehouse Suite, you will hear the ducks quacking and the seagulls laughing, although I don't believe I heard a peep out of the swans and herons. Your fellow guests have also come from far and wide – the geese from Canada and Egypt, and the Mandarin ducks from China (at least originally). All the while, a kite hovers high in the sky, keeping a beady eye on the busy natural world unfolding below.
Treehouse Suite at Fairmont Windsor Park
Magpie is the name of the Treehouse Suite I was staying in during an unseasonably warm and sunny weekend in April. These are wooden structures (four in all), which helps them to blend in with their woodland surroundings. And before you complain about false advertising, the suites are not actually in the trees as per the arboreal clubhouse of your childhood. Think of the size of the mighty oak that would be needed to support such an edifice! Rest assured, the trees of Fairmont Windsor Park remain unburdened. Rather, the four raised Treehouse Suites have been strategically built among the beeches and silver birches, with new saplings planted that will, in time, make the Treehouse Suites feel even more secluded. That said, privacy isn't a problem even now. You can wallow all you like in your elevated, outdoor Jacuzzi, up on the deck and away from the prying eyes of people. To be sure, the squirrels will get a good look at you.
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My Magpie suite, in fact, had two hot tubs on the wraparound deck. This two-bedroom suite is really two apartments, which makes it ideal for families with older children or perhaps two couples travelling together, who will inevitably come to value some time apart. The other three suites have one Jacuzzi. But dry yourself off and come inside, through the French doors and into the living room of the Magpie suite.
A cosy winter paradise
Those doors form part of a curved wall of glass that can be folded back to let the outside in during the warmer months.
For the winter, there is a log fire that transforms this space into a cosy nest. Facing the fireplace is a modern and fully equipped kitchen, with an induction hob, a fridge for food and another for wine. We arrived to a basket of goodies on the countertop – cake, biscuits, crisps; all the sinful things to nibble on while you're sipping your wine out on the deck.
The first spacious bedroom is accessed from the living room and it, too, opens onto the wraparound deck. At the far end of the room, on the other side of the bed, you will find the white and black-tile bathroom with his and hers sinks, a standalone bathtub and a separate shower.
This set-up is more or less mirrored in the other mini-apartment accessed from the area reserved for coats, brollies and muddy boots when you come in through the suite's front door – although that en-suite bedroom doesn't have direct access to the kitchen, which isn't always a bad thing. But, like the first bedroom, this also opens onto its own hot tub.
So you could, if you so wanted, nestle down with your furry and feathered friends for the duration of your stay. But that would almost be a shame, because Fairmont thoughtfully provides the denizens of its Treehouse Suites with their own golf buggy and mountain bikes. You can use these to explore the grounds of the hotel. You will certainly want to stop at the spa with its quaint courtyard heated outdoor spa pool with various massage jets. Inside, you will find a second, bigger spa pool and there is also a salt room.
A variety of dining options to choose from
And you will most definitely want to stop at restaurant Il Giardino 1215 (although, if you are anything like me with the wine list, you may want to walk, which you can do easily). The à la carte is Mediterranean – I started with a handful of sweet, nutty scallops (and a rather sensational house-take on a negroni) and progressed to the pan-fried veal chop.
As of this month, you now have another dining option in The Windsor Brasserie. It is, according to the press release, a “lively, design-led brasserie”, focused on modern European cuisine “with a sense of theatre”. It has an open kitchen with a charcoal robata grill, and some dishes, such as the tartare, are finished at the table. I might just have to come back to try it.
After the lovely meal at Il Giardino, it was time to stroll back to the Treehouse Suite, via the atmospheric Art Deco-style bar. Waking early the next morning, I peered over the deck railing to spy one of my neighbours already at the breakfast buffet – a fat, fluffy rabbit, munching on the grass at the foot of the treehouse. The neighbourhood was waking up to another fine day.
Chris was a guest of Fairmont Windsor Park. Treehouse Suites cost from £2,300 a night, visit fairmont-windsorpark.com
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