Review of Stoke Park Club, by Liat Joshi

Stoke Park's 350-acre estate is one of the closest options for Londoners after a weekend in a greener, quieter place. Only 20 miles or so from Oxford Circus, if you catch the British transport system on a good day, the journey takes as little as 30 minutes by train and taxi from Paddington.

The drawback of such a convenient location is that you don't get proper countryside like you would in, say, the Cotswolds or Chilterns. The local village's name, Farnham Royal, is deceptively posh and in reality it's a very ordinary little place.

But don't be put off. Stoke Park's grounds, partly designed by Capability Brown, help you forget its proximity to London and the fact it's only two or three miles from distinctly unglamorous central Slough.

Staying here is more about Stoke Park itself than the surrounding area and for most people that should be enough. There's a very upscale newly built spa (the menu includes Prada facials), a health and racquets club and lots of golf.

The golfers are attracted by an immaculate course that was famously the venue for 007's defeat of Goldfinger in the 1960s movie of the same name. There's such a swarm of golfers here that you're lucky to make it up the driveway to the hotel building without running a few over or having your car hit by a stray ball.

Once you do reach the main building, you'll notice that the club members and guests are a swanky bunch if the car park's contents are anything to go by. Rarely have I seen quite such an impressive range of luxury cars in one place, with enough Aston Martins and Ferraris to make Porsche drivers feel quite inferior. The main building is pretty impressive too: a Palladian number which, if you squint your eyes a bit, bears quite a resemblance to The White House.

But The White House is probably a lot livelier: once the golfers go home at the end of the day it seems eerily empty. During my two stays there was barely another guest in sight. The problem is that there's so much space downstairs for a hotel with just 21-rooms that guests rattle around the place although this would be a positive for those who want a little privacy, peace and quiet.

The restaurant is much more welcoming, partly because it's in one of the smaller rooms and also the Egyptian Maitre d' is particularly charming. This isn't Michelin star territory but the Anglo-French food is decent enough; it's the kind of place where you get an amuse-bouche at the start and good homemade truffles at the end. Ideal for indecisive diners, the menu has main course and desert tasting plates: selections of scaled-down complementary dishes such as a Trio of Mini English Favourite Deserts (sticky Toffee Pudding, trifle and crumble).

The lack of guests downstairs might be because they are too pleased with their opulent rooms upstairs to leave them.

All the rooms I viewed, from the £270 a night 'club room' to the £1,100 suite, had one thing in common: they shrieked 'dirty weekend'. Perhaps this is why the best one, The Pennsylvania Suite with four-poster bed, was the setting for Bridget's romp with Hugh Grant's character in the film Bridget Jones' Diary.

Even the more modest rooms have plenty of naughty night away ingredients; typically, claw footed baths, large fluffy towels, open fires, smooth sheets, and Floris toiletries. Perhaps most 'romance-inducing' of all, there's not a bit of clinical minimalism. Lavish brocades, heavy formal curtains and plenty of marble in the bathrooms, mean there's no mistaking Stoke Park for the latest cool boutique hotel.