Watford spa among Condé Nast Awards for Excellence 2023 winners

Found on the outskirts of Watford and nestled in verdant Hertfordshire countryside, The Grove was a category winner in the luxury hotel guide Condé Nast Johansens’ Awards for Excellence 2023.

Less than an hour away from north London, the spa and golf resort won Best Immersive Experience, with the Johansens team stating “unforgettable experiences await at Hertfordshire’s luxury resort”.

The resort has six restaurants and dining spots which serve up a variety of cuisines (Image: Helen Cathcart)

The team praised the resort for its “own ‘urban’ beach and “fabulous spa and golf course”.

Located 18 miles from central London the resort is set in 300 acres of countryside on the edge of Watford.

The resort was also named by Condé Nast as the eight best spa hotels in the UK in the publisher’s Readers’ Choice Awards 2023.

The hotel won the Best Immersive Experience category (Image: Helen Cathcart)

Once the home of the Earls of Clarendon, the country estate, which dates back to the 1500s, has been transformed into a 214-room hotel with six dining spots serving sushi, British classics, afternoon tea, Indian cuisine and an internationally-flavoured buffet between them.

Currently The Grove has an afternoon tea made in collaboration with the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew.

Taken in The Grove’s Walled Garden restaurant The Potting Shed, the tea is a traditionally British with the likes of a fig and almond Bakewell tart, a blackberry and plum millefeuille; and a pumpkin spiced custard with vanilla ganache for sweet treats, to be enjoyed while overlooking the estate’s vegetable and herb garden.

Tiger Woods has played, and won, on The Gove’s golf course (Image: Helen Cathcart)

The luxury spa comes with a jacuzzi attached to the pool and 18 treatment rooms for pampering and relaxation, while the golf course, which has no membership, and was the course on which Tiger Woods won the 2006 World Golf Championship on.

For the full list of UK, European and Mediterranean Award of Excellence 2023 winners visit johansens.com