Hampshire Court Hotel

Above: Hampshire Court Hotel

I’m eating with the boss at Hampshire Court Hotel, and Keith Turnbull, the hotel’s General Manager, is describing getting the giggles at the Fat Duck, Heston Blumenthal’s ultimate foodie experience. We were comparing notes on favourite meals – but Keith’s outdoes mine.
He recalls a seafood dish presented as a wave foaming on the beach. He didn’t recognise the seafood and was too embarrassed to ask; and then he was served an MP3 player in a conch through which he could listen to the sound of the sea.
“It’s bonkers, but a joy. I think creativity is essential to food and that meal was truly wonderful, but I’m happy with a ploughman’s if it’s done well.”

It’s also a very different dining experience to the one we are about to tuck into at Hampshire Court’s AA rosette restaurant – you won’t find Heston’s snail porridge here, but you will find perfect char-grilled steak.

We’ve breads (including golden onion bread and dark walnut bread) and fruity marinated olives to nibble, and I’m pondering the wine list – a terrific selection of new world and tried and tested favourites. There’s even wine from Brazil. I’ve wanted to try Brazilian wines for years, but I never thought I’d find one here, a modern hotel in Chineham on the edge of Basingstoke. 

In with the new
This is confession time. Do you think the best town hotels are centrally located, old and full of character? Well, I did, too. But I’ve a sneaking suspicion I’ve got it wrong. Old, centrally-located and character can mean draughty, noisy, limited facilities and no parking. Maybe Keith’s modern, accessible and functional Hampshire Court Hotel has got it right. Okay, it’s not going to win a beauty pageant, but step inside and, as Keith says: “It’s a bit like a tardis. You go in and it expands around you… no don’t say that, it sounds twee.”