Libby’s Naked Diary
Scrooges stay away, Grinches get ye gone! I had heard that nowhere does Christmas time like Buckinghamshire’s Cliveden House, but this surpassed expectation. As a parent, Christmas can be all about the children, but stepping through the entrance’s stone pillars, wrapped in wreaths and fairy lights, to the hall’s enormous glittering tree, I felt that spark of magic that can be lost in adulthood.
It helped that we were met by smiling considerate staff who whisked bags to our room and said things like “I’ve just brewed some mulled wine, would you care for a glass by the fire?”. The weight of the outside world slipped away as I prepared to fully relish this nostalgic bubble of refined festive fun.
Like stepping back in time, there are all the original art, antiques and furnishings and it looks and feels very similar to how it would have done in the 1900s when the Astors would host the “Cliveden set” – a group of politicians, writers, artists and intellectuals.
It still feels like someone’s home, albeit the home of one of the wealthiest, most tasteful people you
have ever met – and decked out for Christmas it has all the unapologetic seasonal joy of old chocolate box paintings but without the kitsch. Nor does it feel old-school and stiff, having a well-entrenched history of naughtiness. This is a home built for mistresses, for entertaining royals and the grade-I listed pool (the only pool to hold this accolade) saw the birth of the Profumo Affair, a notorious political scandal of the 1960s.
Led to our room, the beautiful Sutherland Suite, the porter offered to light our fire and told us our bed is one of only three grade-I listed beds in the UK. I gave it a wary eye as the Significant Other asked what the cost would be if a grade-I bed happened to break… thankfully it turned out to be as sturdy as it was beautiful. It must have had some practise.
Views extended out the windows to the 376 acres of manicured lawns, National Trust woodland, the winding Thames, and beyond, on the horizon, London itself. The fire roaring, I opened a bottle of Domaine du Chateau de Pierreclos Macon-Milly-Lamartine Organic 2022 (Naked Wines, £19.99;
Angel Price, £18.99) and watched the birds wheel through the Autum sky. A fitting setting for this beautiful wine, whose maker Jean-Marie Pidault offers visits to their own castle, where guests can stay overnight. An ideal wintery white from prestigious Burgundy, this is elegant yet generous, rich yet refined.
A perfect aperitif, then, ahead of our lavish dinner in the chandeliered dining room, where our clever sommelier created some incredible pairings. Exmoor Caviar and Champagne may be a delicious classic but the following slow cooked venison and Barbaresco was sublime. Led by head sommelier Rustem Mingaleev, the relationship between wine and food is valued here. At lunch in the Astor Grill the following day, having ordered a ‘Cliveden Wellington’, our waiter Francisco Mendes informed us our current wine was not ideal for the dish, so he had taken the liberty of arranging another bottle to be brought up from the main house’s cellar, should we wish. We wished.
This kind of impeccable service is what sets every great establishment apart. Attentive but never intrusive, the ability to anticipate what had just come to your mind before you say it. Everything is taken care of, so kick up your heels and have a cocktail. Having checked out, we finished the
Naked Wines Macon-Milly-Lamartine amid the warm glow of Christmas decorations. We did not want to leave – so we didn’t. Perhaps it was the seductive wine, perhaps it was the homely yet hedonistic history of this house, but we threw wallets to the wind and checked right back in for another night. Self-indulgent?
Perhaps – but this is the closest I have come to that magical festive excitement of childhood. And Santa: I’ve been good all year.
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