Mad Swans South Downs Review

The team behind Beaverbrook has opened its second Mad Swans outpost on the Surrey-Hampshire border, merging the classic British golf club with a British countryside escape that’s open to all. With golf, putting patch, padel, pickleball and more all on the grounds, it’s a place to enjoy the great outdoors, but when Rebecca Cox arrived, so did a storm.

The cabin

Mad Swans, Mad Weather

The Swing Barn is Mad Swans’ fully covered driving range, but the wind found its way in on our visit, taking out clubs, drinks, and anything not firmly fixed to the ground. Still we swung away at the little white balls, watching the wind take them off-course, when we managed to get them off the ground. Not the easiest way to improve your swing, but devilish fun; and that’s sort of the point at Mad Swans. 

The concept comes from Joel Cadbury and Ollie Vigors, the duo behind Beaverbrook and the Bel & Dragon, with multi-Michelin-starred chef Ollie Dabbous on board as creative adviser and investor. Their idea is to take the British golf club, strip out the membership fees, dress codes and rules, and rebuild it as a countryside hangout where fun matters more than handicap. The first opened in the Mendips in Somerset; this outpost, on the edge of the South Downs National Park near Alton, opened in June 2026, 55 minutes from London Waterloo. A golf club minus the stuffy golfers? Sign us up. 

The golf course

The Golf

Of course, the golf is serious if you want it to be. Mackenzie & Ebert, the architects behind the reworkings of Royal Portrush, Royal St George’s and Turnberry, have reshaped the site into a 12-hole course you can play as six, 12 or 18 holes. Water runs through it, dramatically, at the fifth, where the green sits on an island. A drainage overhaul has turned the famously wet site into a year-round course. Though it’s not, as we found, a gale-proof one.

Golf prices: Weekends: £40 before 12pm. £28 after 12pm. Weekdays: £24 for 12 holes, £30 all day rate. Juniors half-price

What Else?

For the non-golfers, there’s plenty to keep active with. Around the golf course sit padel and pickleball courts, the Putt Patch mini-golf course, and (inside, away from the wind) interactive darts and shuffleboard. These are a popular draw with the locals, so book ahead if you want to give them a go. 

Stay

We slept in one of the eco-cabins scattered through the woodland. They sit fairly close together, but they are angled and arranged so cleverly that you never look into a neighbour’s window, and there’s the illusion of seclusion that these type of cabin stays require. There’s a nice touch in the enormous projector screen set up for the ultimate movie night. With the wind roaring through the trees, we pulled up the duvet and turned the cabin into a private cinema, perfect for an autumnal night. In the morning, light streamed in through the leaves, and the cabin had withstood the storm.

The Potting Shed

Food & Drink

The food was the highlight of our stay. The Potting Shed is the à la carte restaurant, serving modern British comfort food with menus that change monthly under group head chef Steve Rooney. Herbs and edible flowers come from kitchen gardens tended by the on-site ‘Fresh Air Team’, and the rest is sourced from local suppliers. 

Breakfast is the big draw, hearty bacon sarnies and creamy scrambled eggs on buttery brioche, with fiery ginger shots and cold pressed juices for a side-helping of health.

At lunchtime The Hangout does great pizzas and ice creams. At weekends it is full of families, which tells you exactly who Mad Swans is winning over.

Who It’s For?

Mad Swans might be turning the traditional golf club on its head, but the golfers don’t seem to mind – so expect plenty of groups of men in the Swing Barn and setting off for the tee. But because there is so much more here than golf, it works just as well for a family escape with children old enough to swing a club, or for a romantic cabin retreat for two. Think of it as a sports day with a very good kitchen attached: more playful than a country-house hotel, more grown-up than a holiday park. Even in a storm, with half the activities off the table, it delivered a cheerful weekend escape that left us feeling buoyed (and just about on the ground). 

The pickleball court

C&TH Key Notes

• Rain plan: book the Swing Barn. It is fully covered, costs £20 per bay per hour for up to four players, and is the one place on site dogs can’t follow you.
• Must-do: improve your swing on the driving range, where you can order a cocktail to your seats so you can relax between swings (and seek shelter from the storm under the heaters).
• Play off-peak: padel is £33 per court per hour before 4pm (£40 after) and pickleball £15 (£30 after), so book racquets for the morning.
• Room to request: couples, take a woodland cabin and plan a film night on the projector screen. Families with under-12s, book a Signature Lodge Room, which takes an extra bed.
• The dish to ask for: the smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on brioche at The Potting Shed, served from 7am. Or what my son described as ‘the best bacon sarnie’ he’d ever had. 

The Key Facts

• Address: Mad Swans in the South Downs, Frith End Road, Alton, Hampshire GU34 4QL
• Phone: 01420 22888
• Website: madswans.com
• Room rates: Double cabins from £171 per night, room only
• Accessibility: Accessible rooms and cabins are available
• Check-in / check-out: 3pm / 11am
• Sustainability credentials: Kitchen gardens and on-site beehives; solar panels, EV charging, greywater reuse and no single-use plastics. The course reuses on-site eucalyptus and ash-dieback timber, harvests rainwater and is cut by Husqvarna robotic mowers.
• Nearest station: Bentley, two miles from Mad Swans; 55 minutes from London Waterloo
• Parking: available on-site

The Last Word

A golf club for people who’d never fit in at one (and those that would, too). Proper food, cosy cabins and so much to do that even gale force winds couldn’t spoil the fun.