My happy place… Goodwood
Some places just speak to your soul
It’s an almost indefinable moment when you arrive somewhere for the first time and immediately have an innate sense of rightness about it all. Like every cell in your body is nodding and saying ‘Yes, yes. This is good. This is where we want to be…’.
That’s when you know you’ve found your Happy Place – and it happened to me when I first visited Goodwood racecourse, just north of Chichester in West Sussex, on August 1st, 2012.
There is a reason I remember the exact date so clearly.
The most beautiful racecourse I’ve ever been to, it’s nestled into the hills of the South Downs National Park, with a wonderfully open prospect of sweeping green creating a unique air of serenity. As you look around, your heart just lifts.
And then a pack of spectacular horses thunders past… Cheers!
Adding to it all, my first trip to Goodwood was on the day of what has become a very famous victory in horseracing history – the reason the date is so etched on my memory. I will write about all that in another post (because I am OBSESSED and don’t want to GO ON about it here).
So putting all that together, you can imagine my excitement a few weeks ago when I received an invitation to spend a night at the Goodwood hotel – to visit the Art Foundation that has recently been opened on the estate and to sample a new launch from upscale natural skincare brand Elemental Herbology.
Happy place, face cream, contemporary art… I was off as fast as one of those thoroughbreds.
The Art Foundation is the latest addition to the splendours of Goodwood, the 4,900 hectare (12,000 acres) estate that has been the seat of the Duke of Richmond and Gordon, since 1697. The ancestor who originally settled there (the first Duke) was a son of Charles II.
You know how it goes on here.
But far from being just another of Britain’s grand aristo houses, Goodwood has achieved a special place in the national consciousness, for the special events that go on there, all of a sporting nature.
First there was that racecourse, established in 1805 by the 3rd Duke and an immediate hit – and that Duke’s creative thinking about more interesting ways to use the family land beyond farming and shooting seems to have travelled down the generations.
The 9th Duke added motorsport to the mix in 1948, opening Goodwood Motor Circuit, and the current Duke, the 11th, established the Festival of Speed in 1993, followed by Goodwood Revival five years later.
I think he’s a dude.
The largest event of its kind in the world, the four-day Festival of Speed - which starts today - is a petrolhead’s paradise.
My brother goes with his sons every year to drool over the array of amazing cars, bikes and motor racing legends. I wish my father had lived to see it (he raced at Brooklands in the 1940s).
The Revival is on the same motor racing theme – but vintage, with historic cars and the clothes to match. People dress from the 40s, 50s and 60s, with a prize for best-dressed and a whole area of vintage shopping.
Here’s David Gandy showing how it’s done.
You can read more about all those shenanigans on the website here, but back to my trip, me me me.
It was my first time at the hotel and the moment I walked into the reception, in a lovely old building, once part of the estate’s farm, my Happy Place feeling kicked in.
Decorated in a very domestic style, it feels more like arriving at a friend’s house than a hotel. I expected a familiar dog to trot over for a welcoming nuzzle.
My bedroom was part of a rambling modern extension, but the relaxing atmosphere pervades the whole place, with just enough hits of classic country house style dotted about to keep you in the vibe.
All the interiors and many others on the estate, were done by London-based designer Cindy Leveson (see her website here).
I particularly loved the styling of the Farmer Butcher Chef restaurant – which serves only meat and vegetables grown on the estate’s home farm so zero food miles (we had delicious lamb for dinner), in what was the old coach house.
The space is filled with brilliantly curated collections of objects relating to the farm, including a row of name plates that once adorned the stalls of prize animals (below right).
The chairs upholstered with Goodwood flags are just genius.
After a quick refresher, we headed out again to the Art Foundation, which – thrillingly – had only opened two weeks before, yielding top bragging rights. (‘Oh, yes, I’ve already been…’)
Set in glorious ancient woodland there are two gallery spaces and a café, the modern architectural style looking spectacular in the context.
The current headline exhibition in the main gallery is a plaster-of-Paris installation of a decaying wooden building by Turner Prize-winner Rachel Whiteread, along with her photographs of aspects of buildings from around the world. I loved it.
Then you head back outside to discover sculptures by internationally acclaimed artists dotted through the landscape, which has been planted in the areas between the trees by acclaimed garden designer Dan Pearson, to yield new natural activity every two weeks. So always something fresh coming out.
I headed off on my own, because (lovely although all the people were) I didn’t want my first impression diluted by chatting. I wasn’t disappointed. Wandering through a stand of magnificent trees to a perfect meadow glade, I came upon this Noguchi piece.
Then I walked on into a beautiful open field, with long views to far away hills and standing for a moment to take it all in I heard a plane passing overhead, with a very familiar engine noise.
Could it really be a Spitfire? I looked up and it was. Nothing could have made that moment more perfect for me.
I subsequently found out that the Goodwood airfield is over that way and going for a ride in a Spitfire is one of the things you can do there, which doesn’t surprise me at all.
My happy place just gets better.
I can’t wait to go back there to see the Art Foundation in a different phase of bloom, to eat again in Farmer, Butcher, Chef and have another amazing Elemental Herbology facial – of which I will write more in a forthcoming post.
And to be back at those glorious races on my birthday at the end of this month, wearing a great hat.
Read more about the Goodwood Art Foundation, its education programme and how to visit it here. There are free shuttle buses from Chichester station.
FULL DISCLOSURE
I was a guest of Goodwood for one night at the hotel so I could visit the Art Foundation.
But I am not an influencer. My opinions are not for sale.
I don’t take money to write posts to flog stuff and I don’t do affiliate links to get a cut if anyone buys or books something via a link on here.
I only write about things I truly rate and have paid for with my own money, or will in future, having tried them.
I paid to go to the race meeting on the tag above, for eg - and I will be going back to the Goodwood hotel with my husband from my own purse.
The only concession I make is that when I write about something I have accepted as a gift, is to make it a free post so as many people as possible can see it.
Then it’s back to the FULL EXCLUSIVE gear for my beloved Paidies.
While we are on the subject of Influencers
I would love to know your thoughts on this subject. My feeling is that the era is in decline, as brands - and the shopping public - realise they are being sifted.
I do understand it’s how some people make a living from their hilarious TikTok/Insta clip feeds, but my respect for even my favourites only maintains when they are transparent about it.
This is another reason I think Substack is so great and so important. Because it provides a way for people to be paid for informed opinions, without having to compromise their integrity.
The cash input comes from the reader, who chooses to pay for reliable information, not the product flogger.
For these reasons, one of my favourite sites on here is The Trowel, two really funny and smart women, who I met at the Substack summer party, who write totally honest and properly tested reviews of beauty products - all of which they buy with their own money.
What do you think about influencer culture?
Glorious Goodwood! I've only ever read about it in books :)