I’m not exactly known for my taste in films. And by that I mean, give me a cheesy rom-com over an Oscar-winning drama any day. But one film I know is beloved by both “serious” film critics and myself is The Holiday. In case you live under a rock—or, more reasonably, detest Christmas films and choose to ignore the genre completely—the Nancy Meyers romance is a Hollywood classic. Starring Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet, it follows two single women who do a house swap over the festive season. Diaz, a film editor, relocates from Los Angeles to the English countryside, while Winslet, a journalist, heads Stateside for the holidays. They meet men (Jack Black and Jude Law, in all his glasses-wearing glory), fall in love, and live happily ever after. It’s a masterpiece, and I just got to relive Cameron Diaz’s plot line on a trip to Beaverbrook (minus the falling in love with Jude Law part).
Photo: Courtesy of Beaverbrook
Let’s set the scene. I was sitting at my desk in Vogue HQ, when my colleague Hayley pulled me into a nearby meeting room. My immediate thoughts were, “Oh my God, I’m in trouble,” but reader, I was not. Instead, on account of my being a “rom-com fanatic” (a very apt description of me), she asked me to review something called Surrey on Film: The Holiday at Beaverbook, a five-star estate in the heart of the Surrey Hills. I was, I learned, to be whisked away for a two-night stay to “follow in the footsteps of Cameron Diaz’s character, Amanda.” Sign me up.
Upon arriving at the sprawling estate on a crisp November afternoon, I immediately WhatsApped the friend who would be joining me at the hotel a few hours later, “Holy shit, this place.” I can confidently say I’ve never stayed anywhere quite so luxurious in the UK—but you’re here for The Holiday breakdown, so let’s begin.
