Great House at Sonning Site Visit Venue Review

The Great House at Sonning

What a lovely way to spend a Monday morning, a nice, quiet drive along country roads. I took a slight detour through Sonning itself which is just tiny, quaint, tight one-way streets, really charming, chocolate box in look, to arrive at the lovely Great House Sonning.

When you think Great House at Sonning, don’t think large, palatial mansion or manor house, think more warm, inviting, country hunting lodge, Farrow & Ball colour scheme.

The hotel has a total of 49 bedrooms, five meeting rooms and Coppa Club as their main restaurant.

Signage to the car park and hotel entrance isn’t brilliant, I drove past it to start with, look out for a sign for Coppa Club and then you’re there. The hotel is just over the bridge from the Mill in Sonning (a former mill housing a theatre and restaurant), I know that because that’s where I turned the car around.

The car park is plenty big enough for over 100 cars and parking was a doddle. The main part of the car park is in a courtyard area, next to very sweetly name buildings such as the Clock Tower and Coach House where some of the hotel’s x 49 bedrooms are housed.

The hotel entrance is understated, reception is small but adequate, the greeting from the receptionist was very warm and welcoming.

You access the bedrooms housed in that building and the Coppa Club (the hotel’s restaurant) from the hotel’s main reception.

MEETING ROOMS

Furthermore and around to the side of the hotel there is a separate entrance to the hotel’s event space. You walk into the communal pantry with its red Smeg fridge full of cold drinks, tea and coffee facilities and jars of sweets, a wooden bench table will hold pastries and lunch at relevant times. There’s an inviting lounge that leads off the pantry with an open fire that can be lit on cold days, a basket of blankets for your lap and lovely inviting soft furniture.

The main event space (The Dining Room, above) is open when I visited. It can divide into three rooms, the Retreat (with a fireplace in this section), the Parlour and the Secret. When all the dividers are open the space becomes the Dining Room.

Meeting room capacities are:

Nook – 8 Boardroom
Den – 8 Boardroom
Nook & Den – 16 Boardroom
Retreat – 18 Boardroom
Parlour – 18 Boardroom
Secret – 16 Boardroom
Retreat & Parlour – 26 Boardroom
Parlour & Secret – 26 Boardroom
The Dining Room – 38 Boardroom

More information on the hotels meeting space can be found here.

Additionally there are two further meeting rooms just beyond the main event space. These are the Nook and Den, a fireplace at either end of the room when completely opened.

All meeting rooms have direct access to the hotel’s terrace and garden. The terrace and gardens do not section, the space is shared but refreshment breaks and lunch can be taken on the terrace with views of the river and the quirkiest letter box I’ve seen!!! (Have a look in the Gallery below, the postbox is in the middle pillar of the bridge in the middle of the river).

In the hotels garden stands one Igloo for approximately 8 pax (there are more in the Coppa Club gardens) and a couple of oversized deck chairs to lend some interest to the garden. However, to be honest the river view is enough. It was overcast during my visit, but I can imagine it would be difficult to leave the hotel in the sunshine.

So, just one more quick mention re the river. The hotel does have direct access to the river and there are a couple of companies we could recommend for either river taxi (potentially from the hotel to a restaurant in Henley) or for an afternoon or evening champagne river cruise.

COPPA CLUB

Back to dry land and back to the hotel’s main reception which takes you into the Coppa Club. The theme continues beautifully with open fireplaces, comfy country arm chairs and piles of blankets to keep your knees warm. A Labrador or Spaniel would never look out of place.

There are lots of nooks and crannies that a group, whether a business group or a family gathering for a Sunday roast, could tuck themselves into and be very comfortable. There’s a conservatory style addition to the restaurant, a lovely terrace, a garden that I imagine will burst into life very shortly and four Igloo’s in the garden for groups of up to 8 guests in each.

The Igloo’s are very popular, but just a £25 per person minimum spend is required to reserve. The pathway and the Igloo’s light up at night.

ACCOMMODATION

I saw two bedrooms, one was a River Room (with a supplement to the standard accommodation). The room I was shown had a duplex feel to it, bathroom on the entrance level and a small handful of steps to the bedroom. Not the largest of rooms, but personally I don’t like a bedroom that feels like a Ballroom.

There were lots of quirky touches, vintage radios, old fashioned telephones, everything you could need including a Smeg fridge and the ability to make a cup of tea or coffee.

The bathrooms are lovely, very neutral in colour with generous showers in the two rooms I saw.

In terms of travel, Twycross is the nearest train station, which is about 2miles from the hotel, while the M4 is about a 13minute drive.

The French Horn and the Mill Sonning are within walking distance if you fancied a bit of fresh air and to dine outside the hotel or for a bit of theatre, and for something little less formal you could take a walk to the Bull Inn too. (The Bull Inn dates to 1500’s and was originally owned by the Bishop of Salisbury who used it to provide accommodation for pilgrims to the nearby medieval chapel of St Andrews.)

If you do dine out of the hotel or decide on a later dinner time in the Coppa Club then bear in mind that the hotel does not have an alternative bar (the bar in the events space is only open during events) to retire to and the Coppa Club closes at 11pm.

I loved this hotel, I wanted to stay, I want to stay!

For details of the hotel’s latest offers click here.

Want more information or to check meeting availability contact us.

(Date of site visit, Monday 16th May 2022.)