Hartwell House

About the venue

Jacobean and Georgian house in 90 acres near Aylesbury where Louis XVIII lived in exile, now a National Trust hotel with 48 bedrooms and a spa. Four rooms are licensed for weddings of up to 72, marquees take 150, and the Hartwell Rooms seat 90 for meetings.

In April 1814 Louis XVIII signed his accession papers for the French throne at Hartwell House, five days before Napoleon abdicated. The exiled king had leased the house for £500 a year and held court here with his wife, Marie Josephine, who died at Hartwell in 1810. In 1850 a small group meeting in the library of the astronomer Dr John Lee founded what became the Royal Meteorological Society.

Sir Alexander Hampden built the present house between 1570 and 1617, and James Gibbs, Henry Keene and James Wyatt all worked on it later. A fire in 1963 destroyed much of the interior detail. Historic House Hotels restored the Georgian rooms and opened the hotel in July 1989. In 2008 the company gave Hartwell to the National Trust, which now receives all of its profits.

The 90 acres of gardens and parkland were landscaped in the 18th century by Richard Woods, a follower of Capability Brown. The bridge over the lake was once the central span of the old Kew Bridge, sold at auction when that bridge was taken down in 1898. Apples from the orchard are pressed for the breakfast juice.

There are 48 bedrooms and suites, 32 in the main house and 16 in Hartwell Court, a restored 18th-century riding school and stables. The Hartwell Spa has an indoor pool, gym and treatment rooms. Four rooms are licensed for weddings. The Hartwell Rooms, about 100 yards from the house, hold meetings of up to 90 theatre-style. Children over six are welcome, and so are dogs.

Louis XVIII's home in exile

Built between 1570 and 1617

National Trust hotel since 2008

90 acres with an old Kew Bridge span

Four licensed ceremony rooms

Exclusive use for 40 to 84

48 bedrooms and a spa

Meetings for up to 90