“You've got six friends, three couples, or one big family who want a weekend away without London prices — and without sharing a bathroom.”

If you've ever tried to book a weekend away for a group larger than four, you know the drill. Someone finds a gorgeous Airbnb with two bedrooms and one bathroom, someone else suggests a hotel where you'd need three separate rooms at US$ 203 a pop, and eventually the whole plan dies in the group chat. Old Thorns fixes that specific problem. It's a country estate in Hampshire with apartment-style suites big enough to sleep six adults, each with their own en-suite, surrounded by enough activities that nobody has to argue about what to do on Saturday afternoon.

The place sits just outside Liphook, about an hour from London by train, which puts it in that sweet spot where you feel like you've properly left the city without needing to burn half a day getting there. It's surrounded by Hampshire countryside and an 18-hole golf course, and the grounds have that particular English green that makes everyone start talking about moving to the country. They won't, but it's nice to pretend for 48 hours.

The apartment that ends the bathroom queue

The Audrey Hepburn apartment — yes, the suites are named after old Hollywood stars, which is a choice, but not an unpleasant one — gives you three king-size bedrooms, each with its own en-suite bathroom with both a bath and a shower. Read that again. Three bedrooms, three bathrooms. For a group trip, this is the detail that matters more than thread count or pillow menus. Nobody's waiting in a corridor in a towel. Nobody's negotiating shower schedules. Everyone gets a door that locks.

The living space has a fridge-freezer, microwave, and tea and coffee facilities, which means you can stock up at the local shop and avoid paying hotel prices for every drink and snack. This is especially useful if you're here with kids — you can do breakfast on your own terms, at your own pace, without wrestling a toddler through a buffet queue. The rooms themselves are comfortable rather than design-magazine worthy, but they're spacious and clean, and honestly, you're not going to spend much time staring at the walls.

What makes Old Thorns work for groups is everything outside the room. There's a swimming pool, tennis courts, a driving range, and the full golf course if that's your thing. The pool is the kind of facility that keeps kids occupied for hours and gives adults a reason to sit down with a book. The driving range is surprisingly fun even if you've never held a club — competitive enough for a group, low-stakes enough that nobody storms off.

“Three king beds, three en-suites, a pool, a golf course, and a kitchen — for the price of one London hotel room per couple.”

For food, there's an on-site restaurant that does breakfast and dinner, plus a 1950s-style diner café that's genuinely charming in a way that hotel food outlets rarely manage. They run comedy nights and dinner-dance evenings, which sounds like it could go either way but actually works well — it gives the weekend a focal point, something to get slightly dressed up for. The lobby has that specific 'we hired a design firm in 2019' energy, which isn't a complaint — it just means you know exactly what you're getting.

The honest warning: Old Thorns is a big estate, and it operates partly as a golf resort, which means the vibe on a Saturday morning can lean more 'corporate away day' than 'country escape.' If you're imagining a boutique hotel with curated playlists and artisan candles, recalibrate. This is a well-run, well-equipped place that prioritizes function and space over atmosphere. That's a feature, not a flaw — but it's worth knowing before you arrive expecting something it's not trying to be.

One thing nobody mentions online: the views from the apartment windows across the golf course are genuinely lovely, especially in the early morning before anyone's out there. You get rolling green hills and mature trees and that particular Hampshire light that looks like it was designed for Instagram. Make your coffee in the kitchenette, stand at the window, and enjoy the three minutes of peace before everyone else wakes up.

The plan

Book the three-bedroom apartment, not individual rooms — it's better value and infinitely more fun. Stock the fridge before you arrive; there's a Tesco in Liphook that's a five-minute drive. Book a comedy or dinner-dance night for Saturday evening so the weekend has a centrepiece. Use the pool in the morning when it's quiet. Skip the driving range on Sunday afternoon when it gets busy with day visitors, and go Saturday morning instead. If you're coming by train, Liphook station is close but you'll want a car for the last stretch and for any exploring beyond the grounds.

Rates for the apartment vary by season, but expect to pay from around US$ 407 per night for the three-bedroom suite. Split between three couples, that's roughly US$ 67 each per person per night for a king bed, your own bathroom, a kitchen, a pool, and a golf course — which is the kind of maths that makes the group chat very happy.

The bottom line: book the Audrey Hepburn apartment, bring your own breakfast supplies, grab a Saturday comedy night, and text your friends 'sorted — everyone gets their own bathroom.'