French Horn, Sonning Eye

The French Horn at Sonning is a luxury hotel and restaurant on the banks of the River Thames next to the Sonning Backwater Bridges (on the B478 road), at Sonning Eye, Oxfordshire, England.

The speciality of the restaurant is duck, roasted on a spit in front of the fire, and there is an extensive wine list. The restaurant has a panoramic view of the gardens and river beyond. The riverside trees are floodlit at night. It is possible for diners and other visitors to moor on the river in the hotel's garden. There is an old, rusty iron gate with the name of the hotel within the ironwork on the path by the river opposite Sonning Bridge. The hotel includes a number of riverside cottages that are now used as rooms for hotel clients.

Notable clientele include the film director and restaurant critic Michael Winner, who has used the location as a film set, and Princess Diana. It has also featured in the books of Dick Francis.

Close by is The Mill at Sonning, now a dinner theatre. On the opposite Berkshire bank over the main historic Sonning Bridge is another riverside hotel and restaurant, the Great House at Sonning.

External links

* [http://www.thefrenchhorn.co.uk/ The French Horn at Sonning website]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25529-1785067,00.html Article] by Michael Winner in "The Times"