Hotel guests sign up – a year ahead

11:26am Thursday 26th June 2008

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THE controversial £4 million Bowood hotel has already started taking bookings even though it won't be open until next May.

Twenty reservations have been made since the online system went live this month, following the start of construction in January.

The hotel is being built with money raised after the controversial decision to allow 50 homes to be built on land once owned by Lord Lansdowne in Derry Hill.

It will have 43 ensuite bedrooms, including six luxury suites, and will adjoin the existing Golf and Country Club.

There will be an 80 seat restaurant, bar and two lounges.

Lord Lansdowne, whose family have owned Bowood estate for 250 years, said: "The hotel and health club is the missing piece of our jigsaw and will enable us to offer guests the opportunity to stay in quality accommodation in beautiful surroundings.

"It is an enchanted oasis. Its stunning facilities will also provide the hotel with unlimited opportunities.

"Fishing, archery, garden tours, walking trails and golfing are among our many attractions."

The decision, taken in 2006/7, to allow the building of 35 new houses and 15 affordable homes on the four-acre site at Derry Hill proved highly controversial, with a residents and parish councillors saying that the development would ruin the village.

However, the Lansdowne family insisted that, without the sale of the land, the hotel could not go ahead.

This, they argued, would lead to the family selling the historic estate.

At the time planning permission was submitted, Lord Lansdowne said: "Bowood is an international asset but the cost of maintaining and running the estate is enormous.

"We have worked hard to diversify and we have been very successful in what we have done. We have come a long way but still need to put the final piece of the strategic jigsaw in place.

"This development of our hotel, health spa and conference facilities, has always formed part of the long-term vision to bridge the shortfall between income and expenditure."

Almost three million people have visited Bowood since the house opened to the public in 1975.

The estate, spread out over 2,000 acres, includes the house, Grade I listed parkland and 50 listed buildings.

The hotel will make use of its surroundings by using energy from wood collected from the estate.

The biomass system will use the energy for water and heating.

As well as being environmentally friendly, the hotel will have an 18x6 metre swimming pool, gym, sauna, crystal steam room and aromatherapy showers.

Beauty and health treatments will also be available to hotel guests in their own rooms, which will have plasma screen televisions and wireless Internet access.

A single occupancy double room costs £150 per night and a four poster suite costs £350 per night.

Special deals are on offer to include leisure activities.

These include dinner and breakfast, a round of golf, access to the spa, estate and gardens for £220 for a double room and £390 for a four poster suite.