White bucks at The White Buck

We’ve had quite a week, and quite honestly, where to start. For the first time in what seems like a long time we had a short break staying in a hotel (rather than self-catering) and one that wasn’t in the Midlands or the north of England. We bucked the trend (sorry!), our own trend that is and headed down to Hampshire with visits to Exbury Gardens and the Gardeners’ World Spring Fair at Beaulieu, and planning to fit in a walk in the New Forest at some point.

There was so much to see, and consequently so many photos to edit before sharing, and then back home a visit to Grand Designs Live over at Excel has just added to it all. So not really knowing where to start, I’m sharing our hotel - The White Buck at Burley - which was just what we needed. It was so nice to get away and have a complete break, and we had a great stay and spotted plenty of bucks in the decor.

A statue of a deer above the reception and an antler light

But done in a way that wasn’t kitsch. I mean who could resist a stag candlestick?

A candlestick in the bar with a stag

There were some great furnishings in the bar area too, a good reminder that patterns and plains can give a traditional style a modern twist.

A leather seat and patterned buttoned back curved seat in the bar area

The look and feel continued through to our room too, with the reclaimed wood and neutral palette with pops of colour. Here they came from the bedside tables and the scatter cushions, where the material was also used on the chairs.

The wall behind the large grey headboard was clad with textured wood, pops of colour from the bedside lights and the patterned throw cushions
A chair covered in black and white material with pops of colour for the butterflies

The artwork in our room was also stag based, and these two stags looked over us. The brown one (on the left) had a pattern of fir trees on its body, the right (the blue) was just a bit more random, but both worked in the room and actually gave me an idea for a future craft project - another one to add to the list!

Two pictures on the wall of not quite white bucks

I was also taken with the prismatic-type stags head artwork also in our room. So simple, but so effective, understated but impactful.

Artwork - a prismatic / geometric representation of a white buck's head

I’ll share more about our trip, and our visit to Exbury Gardens, the Spring Fair, a brief visit to the National Trust’s Mottisfont and our day at Grand Designs Live and more soon, I just need to get myself a plan as there’s lots to share!

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