Whether you’re born into aristocracy or are just lucky enough to get an invite for the weekend, a stay at a British country home is the most coveted invitation in town.
And if it comes from Sir David Beckham, Susannah Constantine or Guy and Jacqui Ritchie, you’re particularly in luck, according to Tatler which has unveiled its annual Country House Awards.
The society bible’s annual list celebrates the grandest estates and the charismatic hosts keeping Britain’s country house tradition alive, with Sir David getting the nod for Best Beekeeping at his Great Tew pile in Oxfordshire.
While the awards were once more tongue in cheek with a range of playful categories, such as ‘peatiest water’ (previously won by Balmoral), the 2026 line-up celebrates the serious status symbols such as Best Maze and Best Pool House.
The latter honour went to The Lower House, Rutland, presided over by Sir Alan Duncan and James Dunseath
The full list of winners is published in the April issue of Tatler, on sale March 12th.
Guy and Jacqui Ritchie have been hailed for serving ‘next level’ shoot lunches at their Ashcombe Estate in Wiltshire
Sir David Beckham has admitted that harvesting honey at his Great Tew estate makes him feel ‘quite emotional’
Best Beekeeper: Sir David Beckham
The former professional footballer, 50, set his sights on becoming a true country gent after purchasing a Cotswolds pile for £6million in December 2016.
During lockdown in 2020 he developed a profound interest in beekeeping, and has even launched his own honey-based snack business.
He previously admitted that when he sits back in his kitchen and peruses his honey harvest, it makes him ‘quite emotional.’
The father of four has now revealed that the man who influenced his country lifestyle was his friend and Hollywood director Guy Ritchie, 57, who was also honoured on the list.
Best Shoot Lunch: Guy and Jacqui Richie
Mr Ritchie, 54, has established an internationally-renowned sporting estate at his Ashcombe Estate in Wiltshire.
The estate, bought for £9million in 2001, now contains a premier pheasant, partridge and clay pigeon shoot, fishing lakes and even a microbrewery with a bar and dining facilities.
The director and his wife are known for their ‘next level’ spread after a morning shoot, laying on a teppanyaki feast of meat and fish cooked on the lakeside fire table at Ashcombe.
Glamorous guests are likely to include Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Martha Stewart and the Beckhams.
Best Guinness on tap: Clodagh McKenna
Irish-born chef Clodagh McKenna, 50, lives in Hampshire’s Broadspear House, a 300-year-old cottage nestled on the grounds of Highclere Park, with the Queen’s godson Harry Herbert, 67, the CEO of the Royal Ascot Racing Club.
It was gifted to the couple by his father Lord Porchester, the 7th Earl of Carnarvon, and they have converted an old pheasant shed into a private pub named The Cork Arms.
Best downstairs loo: Tom Helme
The household with the best downstairs loo goes to Tom Helme, the founder of British paint manufacturer, Farrow & Ball, who opted to paint the toilet room in Carskiey House, Argyll, a striking muted red.
Designer Tom and corporate financier Martin Ephson bought the company in 1992 and forged a partnership with the National Trust, before going it alone with hugely successful results.
In 1992, Farrow & Ball was selling around £800,000 worth of paint a year. Now, it does that in less than a week, with 62 showrooms (31 in the UK) around the world.
It’s not just the fine paint job that landed Helme, a previous advisor on decoration to the National Trust, a place in Tatler, with the publication also giving the room’s clutter-free approach a special mention.
Clodagh McKenna, pictured at her 50th birthday party, has a converted pheasant hut where she serves Guinness at her Hampshire home
Best roast lamb: Sussanah Constantine
She’ll likely be popular come Easter time because Sussanah Constantine, the star of What Not to Wear, scooped the title of best roast lamb.
And it’s a firm favourite of the TV star’s children, Esme, Cece, and Joe, who dine on the dish at their family home in Decombe, West Sussex.
So, what’s the fashion guru’s secret to the best roast lamb joint? Liberally piercing the lamb with anchovy fillets.
Best swimming pool: Lady Bianca Eliot
Former model Lady Bianca Eliot, the 48-year-old, lives in the sprawling Port Eliot, Cornwall.
Bianca’s first husband was Lord Eliot, heir to the sprawling Port Eliot estate in Cornwall. Tragically, he died aged just 40 in 2006 following an epileptic fit. Lady Bianca was left a widow at 29 with three children.
Four years later, she was engaged to Earl Spencer – Princess Diana’s brother Charles – but he dumped her weeks before their wedding.
She now lives with Mark Tamburrino at Port Eliot, where their outdoor pool with a classic pavilion and fountain received a special mention from Tatler.
Best lake: King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa
The best lake, according to Tatler, is in Glympton Park, Oxfordshire, and belongs to the King of Bahrain.
In 2021, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa paid more than £120million to buy the Cotswolds estate from a Saudi prince who bought it for £11million in the 1990s, making him the owner of its 18th-century country house, 167 acres of parkland, 39 cottages, and a Norman parish church.
The monarch, a friend of the British Royal Family, purchased Glympton Park in February from Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a former Saudi intelligence chief and ambassador to the US.
The monarch, 76, who attended £34,245-a-year The Leys School in Cambridge in his youth, is listed on Companies House as the owner of the property alongside his Cambridge-educated son, Crown Prince Salman Bin Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa.
He is believed to have spent £42million on renovations, including building a replica English pub inside Glympton Park House – the estate’s nine-bedroom mansion – and installing obstacles and bullet-proof glass on the driveway to stop intruders.
Best martini trolley: Imogen Hervey-Bathurst
At Imogen Hervey-Bathurst’s Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire, you’re never too far from a martini.
The aristocrat served the beverage, shaken not stirred, from her Italian mid-century martini trolley, which sits in the landing upstairs.
With its towers and crenellated battlements, Eastnor Castle has the swagger and scale that made it the setting for the wedding of Shiv and Tom in the hit television drama Succession.
In 2022, the castle – Herefordshire seat of James Hervey-Bathurst, a direct descendant of its creator, the 2nd Lord Somers – hosted the nuptials of Hervey-Bathurst’s eldest daughter, Imogen, when she married buccaneering Irish-American property mogul and TV personality, Sean Conlon.
It was a sumptuous wedding for 350 guests, including billionaire Hans Rausing and his wife Julia, and was made all the more dazzling by the attendance of Hollywood royalty in the form of Michelle Pfeiffer, whose husband, David E Kelley, was one of a number of ‘Best Men’ chosen by Conlon.
Best for sustainability: Mandy Lieu
Former Dior catwalk supermodel, Mandy Lieu, who won an almost £30million ‘break-up fee’ after splitting from a billionaire fraudster boyfriend, has built a glamping paradise in the British countryside.
In 2020, Mandy Lieu, 40, purchased 925-acre Ewhurst Park in Hampshire, once owned by the Duke of Wellington, and vowed to turn it into a world-class organic farm and nature reserve.
Since buying Ewhurst in 2020, Lieu has spearheaded an estate-wide biodiversity project, which aims to regenerate the landscape, reduce habitat loss and protect native species.
As part of this project, she introduced two beavers into a special enclosure on the estate in January last year, the first time the animals have been present in Hampshire in more than 400 years.
Best for long weekends: Peregrine Pearson
Cowdray Park in West Sussex is home to Cowdray Park Polo Club, the ancestral home of Sophie Turner’s ex Perry Pearson
Game of Thrones actress Sophie Turner’s aristocratic ex-boyfriend, Peregrine Pearson, is known for throwing the most glamorous weekends at Cowdray Park in West Sussex.
Peregrine is the eldest son and heir of Michael Pearson, the 4th Viscount Cowdray – a former film producer who owns a significant chunk of the Pearson media empire.
His ancestral estate is home to Cowdray Park Polo Club, which boasts ten pitches and hosts more than 450 matches each year.
Following his breakup with Turner, the aristocrat has been spotted cosying up to Brooklyn Beckham’s former girlfriend, Hana Cross.
Read the full feature in the April Issue of Tatler available via digital download and on newsstands from Thursday 12th March
