The Grove Hotel client event
On Friday 10th May, Laura and her husband Bobby travelled down to the renowned Grove Hotel, Hertfordshire, ready to showcase the beautiful venue to six of our lovely clients and their guests.
The long, sweeping driveway leads you through the championship golf course, which is part of the 300-acre estate, to the main entrance where the friendly concierge team were waiting to welcome us.
The reception area is very bright and spacious allowing glimpses into the bar, restaurant and beyond to the beautifully manicured grounds. Once we were checked in and re-dressed we made our way back downstairs to the Library ready to greet our guests alongside Michael, Lynsey and Jessica from the Grove.
The Library is a spacious room with large patio doors leading onto one of the many terraces. We enjoyed champagne and canapés whilst introductions were made, Michael welcomed everyone and gave a short speech about the history of the house. It was fascinating to learn that the house was founded in the 1500’s and used for many different purposes which eventually lead to it being left in a ruinous state, it was then rescued by Ralph Trustees Limited in 1996 who renovated the property over 8 years before opening as a luxury, country house estate hotel and spa!
We made our way through the relaxing and homely lounges to view the event spaces and a couple of example bedrooms. We had a sneak peak inside the Garden Room which was set up for a drinks reception, leading through impressive double doors into the Donneraile room with a beautifully set long oval table for 24 guests. With an impressive fireplace and views over the rolling countryside this would be perfect for intimate, board level dinners and meetings giving you the privacy and space to move between the two spaces.
The Grove has a total of 28 meeting spaces and 215 bedrooms spread across the estate. The main event space has several separate entrances making each space feel very private and exclusive. My favourite has to be the stunning Cedar Suite, which was designed by the luxury interior guru Martin Hulbert. The oval room is flooded with natural daylight offering a 180 degree view over the formal gardens and has its own private entrance and foyer, alongside three spacious breakout spaces nearby – this room definitely has a ‘wow’ factor and would be ideal for a day time meeting and later turned around for an impressive dinner, seating up to a maximum of 130 guests.
The largest event space at the Grove is the Amber suite which can fit up to 450 theatre style / 430 banquet which can be divided into 9 sections for smaller events with adjoining networking and exhibition space if required. The Amber suite also has direct access to the formal gardens which you can utilise for coffee breaks or a drinks reception in the warmer months.
Alongside the impressive indoor event spaces, there is an abundance of options for outdoor event space too allowing you to give delegates a refreshing change of scene, without having the nuisance of organising transport and rallying guests to leave on time! The impressive, 13,048m2 Walled Garden has its own beach, outdoor heated swimming pool, tennis court, kitchen garden, a large open space where marquees can be erected if required and last but definitely not least – the Potting Shed which is a restored Victorian glasshouse which would be perfect for a relaxed drinks reception, BBQ party or quirky meeting.
Our next stop was the brand new, multi million pound refurbished Glasshouse Restaurant which we had all been excited about trying – even more so, as we were one of the very first guests to try it out!! The buffet style restaurant has an impressive 8 individual cooking stations where chefs are continuously preparing fresh International food offering something for everyone. The chefs were clearly excited about the new venture and keen to demonstrate what they could make for you, wanting to create individual dishes and options to suit each guest. We all decided to have a full walk around each station before deciding which one to make a start on first – being event organisers we thought it was best to sample a little from every station – purely for research purposes of course!! The food was absolutely delicious and gave a great talking point for guests as we discussed what we’d chosen and encouraged others to go and try – meaning we ended up with about a 8 course dinner!!!
After the mammoth dinner, we retired back to the Library for a final cocktail of the evening before guests then made their way to their luxurious bedrooms for the night. The following day we had breakfast back in the Glasshouse at leisure and made the use of the very impressive spa facilities! The award winning, Sequoia spa is located in a separate building next to the hotel and has an array of treatment rooms, heat experience rooms, fully equipped gym, a black mosaic swimming pool and a juice bar offering a variety of dishes!
The Grove is definitely a venue you need to see in person to fully appreciate everything it has to offer – if you’d like to arrange a visit or would like any additional information please don’t hesitate to contact us! :)
