The South Lodge Hotel is a 19th-century

five star Five Star (also styled as 5 Star) are a British pop group, formed in 1983 and comprising siblings Stedman, Lorraine, Denise, Doris and Delroy Pearson. Between 1985 and 1988, Five Star had four top 20 albums and 15 top 40 singles in the UK, ...

country house hotel set near Horsham,

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

in the south of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The hotel has also been used in a number of feature films including the 2014 film '' A Dark Reflection''.

History

In 1883,

Frederick DuCane Godman Frederick DuCane Godman DCL FRS FLS FGS FRGS FES FZS MRI FRHS (15 January 1834 – 19 February 1919) was an English lepidopterist, entomologist and ornithologist. He was one of the twenty founding members of the British Ornithologists' ...

began development on the original South Lodge modest dwelling in the same neo-Jacobean style as many other Sussex country houses of the period. Godman commenced the final substantial additions to the building in 1911 when the Drawing Room Wing was constructed.

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

was a regular guest to the house during his time in Parliament and to commemorate this the corridor through to the newly developed Sussex Wing from the Billiard Bar now marks the place where a lift used to take him up to the Elizabeth Le Bay room. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

South Lodge was used as a hospital and the country house opened as a hotel in 1985. In 2018, an Inquest was opened following "an unnatural death" of then

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national s ...

Sajid Javid Sajid Javid (; born 5 December 1969) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from June 2021 to July 2022, having previously served as Home Secretary from 2018 to 2019 and Chancellor of the Exchequer ...

's brother at the hotel.

Grounds

The hotel is set in of woodland and has the largest single Rhododendron Arboreum in England. The record breaking plant is over 150 years old and currently measures tall.

Location

South Lodge is located southeast of Horsham,

in the south of

References

External links

*{{Official, https://www.exclusive.co.uk/south-lodge/ Hotels in West Sussex Companies based in West Sussex Horsham Houses completed in 1883