We’ve scoured the Home Counties and beyond to find the UK’s best places for doing business – and perhaps staying over
Capacity 120
Anne Boleyn’s old home has two serious propositions for working groups. Edwardian in age, Tudor in style, the Astor Wing can host 60 in its secluded, oak-panelled Tudor Suite, which looks across formal lawns to a moat. Over in the Italian Garden, the Guthrie Pavilion is a light and contemporary business-first facility.
Capacity 60
Also encircled by water, this Elizabethan property near Gatwick Airport has 22 bedrooms and a boardroom with its own deck over the moat. A second meeting room, St Peter’s, has a log fireplace, oak beams and views of the manor’s three-acre grounds.
Capacity 600
About half an hour’s drive outside Edinburgh, Gosford House is the 200-year-old centrepiece of a 5,000-acre coastal estate. Home to one of Scotland’s finest private art collections, it’s a stately spot to hammer through a to-do list before repairing to the award-winning golf course.
Capacity 120
Firmly back on the other side of Hadrian’s Wall, this old Norman stronghold has passed through the hands of six English queens. Today, it accommodates seminars, presentations and conferences in the main castle itself, as well as in the Tudor Maiden’s Tower and modern Garden House.
Capacity 16
Celtic Manor Collection has acquired this 200-year-old riverside inn and primped it for small board-level getaways. In the South Wales borderlands, just a couple of hours by train from London, food’s a big focus and groups can take over the 16-seater private room for meetings or dinners.