Having spent two weeks in and around London during the heady build-up to the queen’s Diamond Jubilee weekend, I too can say, monarchist fervour aside, this will be an Olympics to remember.
If you are going but didn’t sensibly book well ahead, extortionate hotel prices, hefty parking fines, a maze of detours, not to mention user-unfriendly congestion zones, await you – so you will be well advised to base yourself in the glorious English countryside.
British Prime Minister David Cameron once joked that “the British are best at the sports you do sitting down, like rowing, riding, sailing and cycling”. But, guess what? Many of these Olympic events are taking places at historic venues outside London: Eton College in Windsor or Weymouth in Dorset, a stone’s throw from the best-kept hotel secrets in all England.
Tylney Hall, in the heart of Hampshire, tops the podium. It recently signed the inaugural “Fair Charges Treaty”, in which hotels are committed to avoid holding prospective clients ransom during the Olympic period, despite the unprecedented room demand.
Boasting a spectacular outdoor swimming pool, this charming Victorian establishment is surrounded by historic walled gardens, lakes, fountains and every conceivable sports facility. You can emulate your Olympic heroes on the adjacent golf course, shaded by copses of great oaks, swing a croquet stick on endless verdant lawns or practise your Federer ball toss on hedgerow courts.
Armed with my camera, I joined a garden club tour led by head gardener Paul Tattersill.
Saturated in summer sunshine, our small group roamed free as clouds, startling only rooks and rabbits.
The number of young South Africans living in this award-winning conservatory verifies how Tylney Hall has become a magnet for anyone born with a predilection for space and sport.
This, after all, is where the English rugby team under Will Carling chose to camp before their World Cup foray and the much-touted gourmet pub around the corner, The Old House At Home, is owned by an ex-English cricketer.
The whole establishment is imbued with an olde worlde ambience and antediluvian charm, so totally lacking in the inner city.
Yet, in opting to be a country mouse, one is not removed from the Olympic action. Dorney Lake, part of the Eton College facilities, is the official 2012 rowing venue, a mere 15-minute drive along the M3 through Egham and Eton.
Ex-F1 champion Jody Scheckter, whose sumptuous Laverstoke Park Farm supplies the organic buffalo milk ice cream and mozzarella cheese on select local menus, lives nearby and could no doubt make the Eton bridge in 10 flat in his famous Ferrari.
In fact both current and ex- World Champions abound in this neck of the woods. Wimbledon is a few kilometres further east and tennis players and rowers will be practising in their droves at official venues ahead of the event.
Just think, you stand a better chance of spotting Sir Steve Redgrave on the water in Eton, or Roger Federer walking his twins on Wimbledon Common, than bumping into the Duchess of Cambridge shopping for hats in Bond Street.
On the subject of blue bloods, shopping and impeccable taste, the other ideal hotel to be based at during the Olympics is Hartwell House, a magnificent National Trust property set in sprawling parkland in the vale of Aylesbury, 45 minutes by train from central London. Who needs Harrods when you have Bicester village on your doorstep? Yes, every conceivable international designer has a showroom offering haute couture at discount prices, with gourmet food and free parking thrown in.
Baron Rothschild’s Waddesdon Manor, famous for its English portrait collection, exotic aviary and Victorian garden, is an arts haven close to Hartwell.
Who wants to wallow in Damien Hirst’s bovines at London’s Tate Modern, when you can survey the Dutch old masters and listen to Puccini at a concert hosted by a baron?
Picture yourself swirling Piccadilly sauce all over your epicurean picnic especially packed by Hartwell’s head chef, Daniel Richardson, to be devoured in comfort among scented crocuses.
There is plenty to do at Hartwell, be it rambling through the woods, jogging on the trail bordering this exceptional property, playing tennis in an old walled garden, swimming in the heated “Roman bath” and fishing in the river, while watching a brace of swans waft by. - Sunday Tribune