Hartwell House

We were treated by some very good friends to a night at Hartwell House Hotel near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire.  From 1987 it was meticulously and lovingly restored to its current state by Richard Broyd into a beautiful hotel.  In September 2008 Historic House Hotels gifted the house to the National Trust to ensure its long term protection. 

This is the Jacobean north front of Hartwell House which is brimming with history.  Between 1809 and 1814 the then owner Sir Charles Lee let the house to the exiled King Louis XVIII of France and his court for five years during which time his wife Marie Josephine of Savoy died in 1810.  King Louis signed the document accepting the French crown in the Library which is now one of the beautiful reception rooms where we had a drink before a delicious dinner yesterday evening!