CLARISSA CLIFFORD is a brave woman. Several times a year she opens her home to a gaggle of strangers in search of the authentic English country-house party experience — and it is her job to set the scene immaculately and to play the perfect hostess.
Certainly there is plenty of space for house parties. The Cliffords live just outside Exeter in Ugbrooke House, the family’s ancestral seat for the past 400 years; the property stands in 3,000 acres and has 12 en suite bedrooms available for paying guests. But, as every hostess knows, the devil is in the detail, and Lady Clifford cannot afford to get any details wrong because this is a commercial venture.
Country-house parties have inbuilt romantic appeal. The stereotype, powerfully rooted in English literature from Wodehouse to Waugh, involves evening gowns and butlers, colossal breakfasts in silver tureens on the sideboard, plentiful wit and, ideally, a little intrigue. Lady Clifford aims to re-create the ambience and to stimulate the wit; she leaves the intrigue purely to her guests.
Why does she do it? Unsurprisingly, it is partly a matter of money. “It all helps the house wash its face,” says Lady Clifford. “But also the house needs to be lived in — it’s made for company and entertaining, and it gives me a real buzz to have it full of people.” Ugbrooke was remodelled by Robert Adam, and with grounds designed by Capability Brown, is palatial in a sturdy, squat way.
Inside, it is a treasure trove: the public rooms are heavy with portraits of stern-looking Cliffords from centuries past and there are precious family heirlooms at every turn. Clearly, owners need a certain mentality to feel comfortable about the prospect of a dozen boozy businessmen slopping cognac on the veneer.
Lady Clifford appears to have that attitude, and it is not hard to get a flavour of Clifford house parties as she leads us around. “Guests are welcomed in the hall with champagne and their luggage is whisked away to their rooms; there’s a bar here for them to help themselves at any time,” she says. Drinks, as well as meals and any entertainment such as shooting, are included in the price of £300 a person a night.
We wander through the morning room and drawing room to the grand dining room. Here, after drinks on the terrace if the weather is decent, the Cliffords and their guests will sit down in their finery to dine at the long table. “We get out all the silver and glasses and light the candelabra; it looks jolly impressive,” comments Lady Clifford.
However, she emphasises, the whole show is made possible only because there is a highly professional operation behind the scenes. The household has been run for the past seven years by the butler/cook team of Michael and Theresa Fearn, although for house parties they will bring in additional staff to help in the kitchen, wait at table, man the bar and make the beds.
“It makes all the difference, because I can look after the guests without having to worry at all about how the meal’s going,” Lady Clifford explains. “In the early days we used hired help and I’d be biting my nails because I just couldn’t guarantee that everything would go smoothly.”
Indeed, it has taken the Cliffords ten years to get their house-party act up to speed. They have gradually renovated and upgraded the enormous bedrooms; from the Cardinal’s room to the China room, each has a distinctive character and its own vast and luxurious bathroom. “Gone are the days when people would put up with dodgy plumbing and draughts just because it was a stately home,” she observes briskly.
She adds luxurious personal touches: Jo Malone smellies in the bathroom; homemade biscuits in a jar; a little basket of plasters, razors and aspirins for forgetful guests. But, she says: “We don’t begin to be like a posh hotel — we don’t have any of the facilities. The key thing is that guests come into a home with a family. We get a lot of repeat business, and people have become tremendous friends over the years.” Any house party means a lot of work, especially when the guests are paying. “I’m a tremendous list-maker,” admits Lady Clifford.
She works out the menus and who will have which room well in advance, and sends the person organising the party a complete package proposal. “We always eat with the guests, but I’m very much aware that it is their party, and especially if it’s a corporate group we’re ready to slip away when it seems appropriate,” she says. “We have to find a balance, so that it’s the guests’ party but they don’t have any responsibilities.”
Other hosts do things differently. Martin Robertson-Bond, who owns Youlston Park in Devon, adopts a much more low-key approach. He lives in Chelsea and makes Youlston and its staff available for private weekend parties; the group has the run of the place while the butler, housekeeper and staff do all the hard work. “We have sourced all the food, slept in every room and tested everything, so nothing is left to chance,” he explains. The price of such attention to detail starts at £6,500 for two nights for ten people at Youlston.
According to Sarah Stanley, who runs the top-end bed and breakfast marketing organisation Unique Homestays and has just started to promote group house parties in great houses: “Some corporate groups and the US market like the Ugbrooke model, where they can mix with the gentry; the private UK market is more likely to go for the more laissez-faire Youlston arrangement.” The principle remains the same, however, whether she is dealing with a boardroom retreat, American tourists or a silver wedding party. For a typical sum of £150 to £300 a person a night, guests get a taste of the high life, exclusive use of the house, grounds and staff, and the chance either to meet and socialise with the hosts as their personal guests, or to play lord of the manor themselves.
Owners, of course, are able to show off their properties in the grand style for which they were built and to generate a useful income in the process. But they have to do the job properly — and that involves enthusiasm, commitment and professional help. As Stanley observes: “You can’t host a party of 16 without some permanent staff who know exactly what they’re doing; you couldn’t do a really professional job if you relied on brought-in staff.”
www.uniquehomestays.com, 01637 881942
www.ugbrooke.co.uk, 01626 852179
