English class

The Coach House Rooms, created in the early '80s and refurbished in 1999, give a small designer spin to the country-house feel. They're duplex rookeries with closed-in gardens on the ground floor and second-floor bedrooms in which the original beams lend the space an over-the-stable feel. Number 15 is one of the most flamboyant, a long rectangular tone poem in red. "People love it or hate it," said Alison Chenet, the front-of-house manager.

The Gold Rooms, which look out on the croquet lawn, are the opposite. They're all about space--architecture giving way to roominess--because they were added in 1990 with the American market in mind. Finally, there are the rooms in the original house, such as Poachers, that have been fast-forwarded into the millennium. Blond wood paneling has replaced wainscoting, and an eclectic sensibility reigns (or romps). Now facing love seats frame a plasma TV, not a fireplace, and the coffee table is glass and Plexiglas instead of dark wood. And instead of maps of England and prints of aristocrats at play, there is an abstract painting that could be a landscape. (It's in the eye of the beholder, and this one's, I have to admit, was uncertain.)

The parklands surrounding Chewton Glen appear to be perfectly manicured because that's what they are, and the entrance feels so welcoming because it is surrounded by drifts of flowers in pots and beds, classical statuary, and a flapping Union Jack. Inside, everything is congenial clockwork. The staff is cheerful and solicitous, suggesting that you look over the hotel or have a drink before going to the room, while also doing a bit of public relations. Upon checking in, every guest is handed two stamped postcards of Chewton Glen.

When the Skans bought the property in the mid-'60s, it was a cheap boarding house with at least 20 buckets on the top floor to catch the many leaks. "There was only one member of staff when I took it over," Martin recalls, "and I had to fire her on the first morning when I found her in bed with the one regular guest."

The Skans' first break was the mass defection of superb staff from a nearby hotel when it changed ownership. "We quickly had the finest restaurant in the neighborhood and made money in our first year," Martin recalls. Then, in the early '70s, he decided to fly to New York and promote Chewton Glen, not just to travel agents but to the leading U.S. travel editors and writers. Even now, 30 years on, many of them remain close friends.

Chewton Glen The heart of the spa at Chewton Glen is the 56-foot-long pool, housed in a Georgian-inspired building with tromp l’oeil cloud ceilings and an enormous skylight.

By the early '80s the Skans were planning the spa. Obtaining the necessary permission took seven years, and construction ate up three more. "We thought that creating an advanced spa would put us ahead of the pack, and that's exactly what it did," says Martin. "We had a major expansion of the spa last year, and I suppose in five years' time we will have to start all over again with an even more advanced one, even though ours evolves all the time."

After settling into my comfortable suite, Poachers, with its stylish khaki and pistachio colors, I made straight for the spa, which is connected to the main hotel by a series of corridors. The pool, with its Roman-inspired paintings, is still one of the best in Britain--in temperature neither chilly nor cloying and just right for doing lengths. The hydrotherapy pool, installed last year, was also up to speed. Unlike the ultrasleek new model at Whatley Manor, this one is more geared to individual taste. Rather than forcing you into a treatment circuit, with spouts on timers (time to move on), the Chewton Glen pool lets you dawdle. You merely wave your hand over an underwater sensor and the station springs into action. The other touch that I loved was the individually shaped, submerged stainless-steel lounges, which had their own separate bubble spouts.

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