Serving Up Lovely Hotel in Wimbledon Country

Wimbledon may be eight miles from the central part of town, but it’s as much a part of London as Knightsbridge. Still, once you pass those famous tennis courts and the village shops, it feels like the country. This, appropriately enough, is the home of London’s only country house hotel.

Cannizaro House is the real thing--a serene Georgian manse with rolling lawns, formal English garden and its own woods. Restored and opened four years ago, this is a house with a past. Oscar Wilde and Henry James ate in the stately dining room, lit by an enormous crystal chandelier. These days, of course, you’re more likely to see English and German tourists sipping tea in the sitting room under a ceiling painted Michelangelo-style.

The house has 46 guest rooms, with the biggest, best and costliest, naturally, in the main house. I had a suite, spacious and slightly stodgy, with tall windows overlooking the garden and pastel papered walls. The big marble bathroom had a speaker, so I soaked in bubbles and listened to Radio 3. At $209 a night for a double room, $174 with breakfast on weekends when available, the Cannizaro isn’t cheap, but it’s a splendid way to escape central London without going very far.

Cannizaro House, West Side, Wimbledon Common SW 19; telephone (from the United States) 011-44-81-879-1464 or 011-44-81-879-7338.