Bowood Hotel, Spa & Golf Resort (between Calne and Chippenham in Wiltshire) has just been approved for membership of Pride of Britain Hotels, gained a four star rating from the Automobile Association and been awarded two AA rosettes for the Shelburne Restaurant.
These successes are all the more impressive since they have been achieved within three months of the official opening of the 43-bedroom hotel and spa on 16 May by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall.
Alongside the existing Bowood Golf & Country Club, the separate three-story hotel features 37 bedrooms and six suites, the 64-seater Shelburne Restaurant & Bar and two lounges (The Library and the Morning Room). With its own dedicated entrance, the spa comprises a 15×6 metre infinity swimming pool, hot pool, crystal steam room, rock sauna, aromatherapy showers, gym and spa bar.
The new Bowood hotel adopts a distinctively English country house tone yet with contemporary twists. Its ‘country-chic’ interiors bring modern translations to classic pieces while also drawing upon Bowood’s impressive heritage, reflecting themes found within Bowood House (home to the Lansdowne family since 1754) and across Capability Brown’s 2,000 acre Grade I Listed Great Park.
Its admittance to ‘Pride of Britain Hotels’ means that Bowood Hotel, Spa & Golf Resort is one of just two Wiltshire properties to be included within this collection of the finest privately-owned hotels in the country.
Established for 27 years, Pride of Britain Hotels currently has a membership of 38 hotels and Bowood is now included alongside the likes of Dorset’s 400-year-old Plumber Manor, The Goring in London’s Belgravia (which claims to be the capital’s oldest privately-owned luxury hotel), Gloucestershire’s Calcot Manor & Spa which dates back to Cistercian times and founder-member hotel, Maison Talbooth on the Essex-Suffolk border.
This prestigious non-profit-making consortium welcomes diversity yet guests at any of the delightfully different properties can be sure of consistently high standards of hospitality, comfort and good food.
“Before being admitted as a member of Pride of Britain Hotels, we had to receive the approval and votes of all other member-hoteliers,” explains James Stewart, General Manager, Bowood Hotel, Spa, Golf Resort & Visitor Enterprises. “To be recognised for having achieved the high standards set by our peer group so soon after opening is incredibly encouraging and motivating for everyone at Bowood.
“Together with the AA’s granting of a four star-rating for the hotel and two rosettes for the Shelburne restaurant we feel confident about achieving wider and greater appreciation of the experience we are continually fine-tuning for the benefit of our guests.”
Expressing his delight, too, on these early triumphs, Bowood’s owner, the 9th Marquis of Lansdowne adds, “James and his highly dedicated team of staff at the hotel and spa have all worked tirelessly ahead of the launch which was on schedule. They haven’t missed a beat since and the warm and friendly service they are providing gives the new hotel and spa its heart and soul. I congratulate and thank every one on these achievements so soon after opening.”
Bowood Hotel, Spa & Golf Resort www.bowood.org