One-night wonder: Stoke Place Hotel, Buckinghamshire

Could a one-night luxury break revitalise your spirit? Bernadette Fallon finds out

Could I escape London in 28 minutes? Embrace the countryside, see rabbits, sidestep the stress and leave the noisy babble behind in less than half an hour? Turns out I could.

Stoke Place hotel is a short drive from Gerrard's Cross train station in Buckinghamshire, 28 minutes on the train from London Marylebone. It's hard to believe that industrial Slough is just down the road. A welcoming 17th-century country mansion, standing in 23 acres of parkland with Capability Brown gardens, it shares its designer with stylish destination Soho House and sister residences. So if you want Babington House style at Slough prices, Stoke Place is a bit of a find.

Inside it's an eclectic mix of old and new, elegant Victorian rooms given a 21st century makeover with contemporary furnishings, colour and detail. I'm treated to a grand tour of the hotel by the general manager Michael, a charming Guadeloupian who was enticed from the sunny island to run Stoke Place last year. Watching him stop to chat to guests - a couple with wicker basket returning from a picnic in the grounds, a father playing outdoor chess on the lawn with his two-year-old - he strikes me as an affable country house host looking after the comfort of his weekend guests.

And in fact this easy country house vibe is very much the attraction of Stoke Place. Style without ostentation, luxury without fuss, there are bookcases in alcoves, overstuffed armchairs under tall lamps, and welcoming nooks and crannies where you can kick off your shoes and relax.

Which is precisely what I do after our tour, sinking my bare feet into the thick shag pile rug in the bar while Edit Piaf regrets nothing from the speaker above. The music, like the hotel, is an eclectic mix of classic and contemporary, easy-listening jazz numbers alongside funky Rn'B and ‘50s swing.

Dinner that night is served in the garden dining room, its walls a riot of playful pattern, country wallpaper for the new millennium. Chef Craig van der Meer has come to Stoke Place from South Africa, via Longchamp Place; his food is modern British, inventive and tasty. A starting plate gives us a chance to try some of his tricks - crab with watermelon, foie gras with ginger jelly, scallop with polenta (he loves cooking fish he reveals later). There's traditional pork belly for main, but the real surprise comes with dessert, exploding iced strawberries. The secret? A bit of old-fashioned Space Dust on the fruit.

Dinner attracts a mix of hotel residents and locals, some with kids, families are very welcome in Stoke Place. I like the way the hotel has made itself part of the community; a local members club offers discounts on food and drink, and upgrades on accommodation. Earlier that evening Michael was whizzing off to host a party of 100 local residents who were invited for drinks, a nice perk of the members' club.

Then it's back to the suite and time for bed. The hotel has 29 bedrooms in total, 12 of which are suites. Thoughtful practical details include a fully stocked tea and coffee tray (unusual for a luxury hotel), iron and ironing board tucked away in the wardrobe, and a phone in the bathroom!

I wake early the next morning and pull back the drapes on my turret window, startling the family of moorhens who've been sunning themselves on the patio below. Obviously deciding it's time for off, parents hustle babies to their feet and they head off across the lawn towards the lake. After a bath in the freestanding tub, brimming with Aveda bubbles from the hotel toiletries, I decide to join them. (On the lawn, not the lake.)

I climb into one of the huge hammocks dotted about beneath the shady trees, and once I‘ve blended into the surroundings, I'm entertained by a show of wildlife. Rabbits, squirrels, ducks, magpies, blackbirds and doves go about their business just a few feet away as I lie there gently rocking, thinking a motorised hammock would be a brilliant invention.

The lake is stocked full of fish, mainly pike and perch, and there are a few early morning fisherman out already. The hotel will arrange fishing trips for residents, clay pigeon shooting parties can also be organised. As of yet there's no spa (though Michael has plans!), but guests can enjoy some in-room pampering and book therapists for massage or beauty treatments. See, just like a country house ...

It would be a wonderful setting for weddings, and there are a choice of rooms for both the ceremony, which the hotel can host, and the reception; the beautiful Vyse Room can hold up to 80 people, while the larger ballroom has a capacity of 200. During the week Stoke Place is also a popular business venue, the reception rooms make inspiring spaces for brainstorming.

But it is as a peaceful and pampering destination, away from the city madness, that I most recommend it as a ‘one night wonder' - though of course you will benefit twice as much from two!

Peace in just 28 minutes ...

Booking and information

Stoke Place, Stoke Green, Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire, SL2 4HT
Phone +44 (0) 1753 534 790; visit the website at www.stokeplace.co.uk. Stoke Place hotel is also available for exclusive hire.

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