Today I want to bring you my review of the The Runnymede on Thames Hotel in Surrey, England. I’ve been invited for a complimentary stay and I can’t wait to share about my experience. Read on to find out how it goes.
The Runnymede on Thames Hotel
I love history. I love how London has so much history and how there’s so much more of it close by. Last weekend a friend and I went to Runnymede, which, at only 40 minutes from central London, is both nearby and steeped in history.
Famous for being the location where King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215, Runnymede played a pivotal role in the foundation of modern democracy.
How to Get to Runnymede from London
Getting to Runnymede was a bit tricky. Had this been 1215, horses probably would have gotten us there faster than modern methods of transportation.
I thought we were being efficient by taking the tube to Heathrow and then a short taxi ride to The Runnymede on Thames Hotel. Not so.
When we arrived at Terminal 5, we were informed that the minimum price for an airport taxi was £35. Wow. Minicabs weighed in at £28. We weren’t willing to pay that for a 9-minute ride.
We decided to brave the bus. £3.30 and a painful 45 minutes later, we arrived at the The Runnymede on Thames Hotel in need of some rest and relaxation (and wishing their website had warned us of the steep airport taxi fees).
Runnymede on Thames Spa
Thankfully part of my invitation to stay at the hotel involved a relaxing day in the Aquitaine Suite at its spa.
After a quick tour of the large and bustling hotel’s conference rooms, restaurants, and huge health and fitness center, we were taken down a flight of stairs into our own private section of the spa.
There we found ourselves in a softly-lit room with a large sofa, a table featuring a plethora of fruit and cake, a flat-screen TV, a massage chair, a nail bar, a mini kitchen, and a private treatment area.
Through another door were a locker room, two shower rooms, and a bathroom. We felt like we had an entire spa-within-a-spa to ourselves.
The Aquitaine Suite normally hosts groups of four to eight people, so my friend and I felt a bit spoiled to have it just for us.
We settled into two large platters of food for lunch, enjoying the music and the champagne our hostess brought.
After lunch we were treated to the spa’s signature facial. As the therapist massaged my face, neck, and shoulders, the stress of the morning’s long commute eased.
The facial involved a mix of hot and cold treatments, as well as a rose quartz crystal massage using a number of the spa’s skincare products. When it was over I wondered if they would notice if I just fell asleep and never got up.
But there was more to see at the The Runnymede on Thames Hotel spa. My friend and I left the suite for a while and went upstairs to the hot tub, the indoor pool, and the sauna and steam rooms.
After an hour, we returned to the suite for afternoon tea and a movie.
Runnymede on Thames Restaurants
We enjoyed our time in the suite so much we didn’t leave the spa until 7:30pm. Afterwards we went for cocktails at the bar before settling into dinner at The Lock Bar and Kitchen, the hotel’s riverfront restaurant.
The cream of white onion soup with garlic flakes and truffle oil was excellent, and the beetroot and red onion tart was good too.
I also really enjoyed the bottle of red wine from Burgundy, which was reasonably priced for the quality.
The next morning we had a quick buffet breakfast at the The Runnymede on Thames Hotel’s other restaurant, Leftbank, before setting out to explore Runnymede.
Local Area
The hotel provided us with a great map of the area, complete with a guide to the Thames Path that lay just outside. We walked along the water, passing colorful canal boats and idyllic houses sitting peacefully on the banks.
Eventually we came to the Magna Carta Memorial in Runnymede. It was set back from the road at the far end of a field.
As we approached, I couldn’t help but think about how ironic it was that the location of such a pivotal moment in history could be at the base of a mundane hill on the side of a busy road.
Even stranger was the fact that the memorial, which was erected in 1957, was funded by the American Bar Association.
We paid our homage at Sir Edward Maufe’s small Neoclassical structure, which was surrounded by giant oak trees that had been planted over the years by important figureheads and visiting dignitaries.
Then we warmed our numb fingers and feet at the nearby Magna Carta Tea Rooms in one of Sir Edwin Lutyens’ matching Fairhaven Memorial Lodges.
There we learned that two buildings we saw up the hill from the Magna Carta Memorial were a JFK memorial and a Commonwealth Airforces memorial from World War II.
It seemed a rather odd location for both, but maybe if I hadn’t been too freezing to visit them I would have been enlightened as to why they were there.
Tea finished, my friend and I walked back along the muddy Thames to check out of the hotel. Thankfully her boyfriend was in the area and was able to give us a ride back to London in his car.
The Runnymede on Thames Hotel: The Verdict
Not having to brave the bus/tube combination was a nice way to end our stay at The Runnymede on Thames Hotel.
I returned to London refreshed, relaxed, and happy to be a bit more knowledgeable about the extensive history of the greater London area.
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