Lord Beaverbrook's Cherkley Court

Cherkley Court began life as a kind of ‘granny annexe’, when the wealthy Midlands industrialist Abraham Dixon built the great house in the late 1860s as his retirement home. The Surrey countryside clearly suited him, for he lived at Cherkley until his death nearly 40 years later. Meanwhile, Cherkley’s future was being played out on the far side of the Atlantic. After making his first fortune from the cement business, Canadian-born William Maxwell Aitken shut up shop and emigrated to England in 1910. The next 12 months were a whirlwind: he was elected to Parliament, acquired a knighthood – and bought Cherkley Court.

A media hub

The outbreak of World War I did little to halt Aitken’s meteoric rise. He gained control of the Daily Express newspaper, and subsequently founded the Sunday Express and bought the London Evening Standard. At the same time, he achieved considerable political influence. He was ennobled as Lord Beaverbrook in 1916, and served in the Cabinet during both World Wars. Throughout this time Cherkley was the focus of Beaverbrook’s media empire. The news streamed into his office on ticker tape, and he was deeply involved in the day-to-day running of his newspapers. But a great country house was also an indispensable political asset. Here politicians could meet and manoeuvre, and Beaverbrook entertained lavishly, regularly welcoming famous names like Herbert Asquith, David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill. It wasn’t only politicians that were entertained here but writers and actors too. H G Wells, Rebecca West, Rudyard Kipling, Elizabeth Taylor and Ian Fleming all spent time at Cherkley. Lord Beaverbrook lived at Cherkley for more than 50 years and died here in 1964.

A new chapter begins

In 2007, after a large restoration project by the Beaverbrook Foundation, the refurbished house and gardens opened to the public. The venture proved uneconomic, however. The estate was then acquired in 2011 by the Longshot company. The Grade II listed buildings are now the luxury Beaverbrook Country House Hotel with a spa, several restaurants and bars and a cookery school. it also boasts the Beaverbrook Golf Club, an exclusive 18-hole golf course.

Two bridleways diverge from the car park in Mill Way. Take the right-hand fork, with the fence and Tyrell’s Wood Golf Course on your right, and drop gently down through a tunnel of trees. Leaving views of the golf course behind, you pass a field on your left and then cross Stane Street at a four-way signpost. Keep straight on, signed to Givons Grove, and cross the drive to Cherkley Court at Upper Lodge.

The track narrows at the lodge and continues downhill for a further 800yds (730m). Just as the path sinks into a shallow cutting, a footpath crosses your route. There’s a waymarker post here; turn left and climb gently past the houses and gardens backing onto the hedge on your right.

Now keep going ahead to pass Cherkley Hill electricity substation on your left as the path drops and rounds a brick wall, then climbs steeply uphill to reach another estate drive at Lower Lodge. Cross the drive and keep going straight ahead to climb the short, steep flight of rustic steps that lead to a pleasant, gently rising path through a centuries-old thicket of yew trees.

The path ends at a T-junction with Stane Street. Turn left at the three-way signpost, towards Thirty Acre Barn. Follow this ancient broad gravelled path as it undulates to a crossroads with more views of the golf course to both the left and right, and the four-way signpost that you passed on your outward journey.

Turn right towards Mill Way and retrace your steps to the car park.