Heckfield Place is a one-hour drive from London, but once there you feel like you’re a million miles away. The award-winning Hampshire hotel offers a real retreat from city life, permeated with a holistic philosophy that celebrates the rhythms of nature and supports ‘a self-sustaining relationship between the house and the land’.

Heckfield is much more than just another beautiful country house hotel though. It is an estate with a purpose, renovated by its owner with the ambition to remind guests of our connection to the land, and our heritage as makers. From the bed linens to the menus, every detail is designed to revive our understanding and appreciation of the journey things make from the soil to our tables and homes.

Open to residents and non-residents alike, The Assembly is Heckfield Places’s events programme, curated by journalist and former Port Eliot Festival co-director, Lucy Hyslop. For city dwellers in search of ways to slow down and re-energise, it offers plentiful opportunities to head out of town for a day and experience a little slice of Heckfield’s restorative ambience.

Designed to appeal to ‘all curious minds’, The Assembly offers an array of talks and activities, to suit a wide range of interests. Choose from immersive craft workshops where you can get hands-on for yourself and learn a traditional skill such as spoon carving, rush weaving or bench making. Or explore your artistic side with a botanical drawing or flower arranging class. There are also exercise classes, film screenings, guided tours of the grounds, book readings and talks by gardening experts, chefs, philosophers, creatives, scientists and explorers.

If you’re looking for an escape from urban life, and an experience designed to ground you and inspire you, then Heckfield could be the perfect antidote.

To view The Assembly events programme, visit heckfieldplace.com