Mercure Salisbury White Hart Hotel Review | Close to Magna Carta & Stonehenge

Salisbury is known as ‘the city in the countryside’. A little modernity set in the timeless storybook Wiltshire countryside. So it is with Mercure’s White Hart hotel: a stunning, listed four hundred year old building in the heart of one of England’s great medieval cities with all the mod cons a proud Instagrammer could wish for. With good wifi, dry cleaning, a porter service, 24 hour reception and online check-in it’s a grand old hotel with a not so grand price tag.

The front of the hotel resembles an embassy. Above the street level archways sit four grand pillars in front of a balcony that feels ready-made to deliver a speech from or perhaps toss a bouquet backwards over. So it’s no surprise that the hotel is a popular wedding reception venue.

Inside, on the other hand, it’s a home away from home. The staff are all helpful and friendly, with that lovely familial country touch that you really need to get outside of the M25 to find. The dining and lounge areas are light and airy, sprinkled with soft, comfortable chairs while the bar is small and relaxed: I had to refrain from hopping behind it and helping myself.

If you’re coming to Salisbury, unless it’s for business - in fact even if it is - then you’re going to do a little touristing. In 2015 Lonely Planet included Salisbury as one of its top 10 cities in the world to visit. Given that its main attractions are 800 (Magna Carta) to 5,000 years old (Stonehenge), it’s safe to say that the appeal still applies.

The cathedral is any visitor’s first stop for very obvious reasons. It’s truly one of Europe’s truly great medieval churches. Impressive on the outside, jaw-dropping inside. It’s also home to the best preserved copy of the Magna Carta, not to mention its having the tallest church spire in Britain helps give you your bearings no matter where you are in the city.

Arrundels is just around the corner. This is the former home of Edward Heath and is simply the archetypal English country manor, just minutes from the heart of the city. The High Street is another blend of the new and the very old, with its imposing 14th century gate leading through to Cathedral Close and you-know-what. 

Once you’re back from taking in the city or perhaps completing a pilgrimage to Stonehenge or Avebury it’s time to put your feet up. Weather permitting you can enjoy a drink in the garden out the back before retiring.

The bathroom was sleek, minimalist, contemporary and stylish, just what you want in a modern hotel. The bedroom was full of warm gold, brown and autumn green, soft lighting, comfortable chairs and the one of hotel life’s great indulgences: a four poster bed, fit for a latter-day medieval king.

White Hart hotel provides the perfect base for a visit to Salisbury and the surrounding area. It’s relaxed enough to be a home away from home, yet still has all the little luxuries you’d expect from a four star hotel. I really didn’t want to leave but after a full weekend London called and I was on my way…slowly.

I left the White Hart hotel and Salisbury in no great hurry at all, vowing to return as quickly as possible.

MERCURE SALISBURY WHITE HART HOTEL