The Great House at Sonning from the road.
Historic view from the other side of the River Thames of the White Hart with Sonning Bridge to the right.
Modern view of the Great House on the left and Sonning Bridge on the right from the opposite bank of the River Thames.

The Great House at Sonning (formerly the White Hart public house) is a hotel and restaurant with a riverside garden on the River Thames near Sonning Bridge at Sonning, Berkshire, England. It is possible for patrons to moor along the towpath running past the hotel on the river.

It was formerly a public house, known as the White Hart because King Richard II's wife, Isabella of Valois was kept prisoner at the Bishop's Palace in the village after his death and his badge was a White Hart.[1] In 1989, the original White Hart was combined with The Red House, previously a private home on Lee's Hill where the dramatist Sir Terence Rattigan resided during 1945–47, to become The Great House.[2]

About 150 metres East on the opposite side of the B478 road are Deanery Garden and St Andrew's Church. Close by, just over Sonning Bridge, is The Mill at Sonning, now a dinner theatre. On the opposite Oxfordshire bank of the Thames is another riverside hotel and restaurant, the French Horn.

Patrons have included Amal and George Clooney. The Clooneys bought the nearby Mill House in Sonning Eye in 2014.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Ford, David Nash (2020). Mid-Berkshire Town and Village Histories. Wokingham: Nash Ford Publishing. pp. 213–221. ISBN 9781905191024.
  2. ↑ Angela Perkins, The Book of Sonning: The story of an English village, 2nd edition. Buckingham: Baron Books, 1999. ISBN 0-86023-659-5. Page 152.
  3. ↑ Sawer, Patrick (10 October 2014). "Welcome to Sonning, Mr & Mrs Clooney". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 11 October 2014.

51°28′32″N 0°54′47″W / 51.47554°N 0.91312°W / 51.47554; -0.91312


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