The Cadogan, A Belmond Hotel, London

The Cadogan Hotel, built in 1887 in London's SW1, off Sloane Square, was soon to find itself at the heart of Victorian society's most infamous indiscretions. Within the walls of this most stately of West End London hotels, some of society's pre-eminent figures came together in a tumult of controversy. Society beauty, courtesan and actress Lillie Langtry lived at 21 Pont Street from 1892 to 1897.

Even after she had sold the house, Lillie would stay in her old bedroom, by then a part of the hotel. It was at The Cadogan Hotel that Lillie would court Edward, the future King of England. Meanwhile, in 1895, Victorian society was rocked by the arrest of playwright Oscar Wilde at the hotel.

The incident, in room 118, was immortalised by John Betjeman in his poem, "The Arrest of Oscar Wilde at the Cadogan Hotel" Today, there's a quieter rhythm to life at The Cadogan Hotel. The drawing room and inter-connecting private dining rooms smack of elegantly modernised Edwardian beauty. The hotel gardens offer a leafy and serene escape.