Hotel group's collapse leads to sale of 28 stately homes

Published 21st Apr 2011

A grand collection of castles and stately homes is up for auction after their owner, the von Essen Hotels group, collapsed into administration on Wednesday.

Administrators at Ernst & Young are trying to find buyers for von Essen's 28 luxury country house hotels in the UK and France. They include Cliveden House in Berkshire, Ston Easton Park in Somerset, the Royal Crescent in Bath, Thornbury Castle near Bristol and Amberley Castle in west Sussex, which dates back to 1140.

Thornbury is even older, with the earliest account of the manor in the time of King Athelstan (925-940), the grandson of King Alfred the Great. King Athelstan and William the Conqueror stayed at the castle, as did Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Mary Tudor.

Cliveden, once home to Nancy Astor and mired in the Profumo scandal in the 1960s, recently unveiled the world's most expensive afternoon tea – which carries a price tag of £550 for two people. It includes white truffles, Beluga caviar and a glass of Dom Perignon Rosé.

Queen Victoria, a frequent guest, was not amused in 1893 when the house was bought by William Waldorf Astor, America's richest citizen. It soon became a social hub, with guests ranging from Charlie Chaplin to Winston Churchill, and President Roosevelt to George Bernard Shaw.

Harold Macmillan, another regular guest, when told that the house was eventually to become a hotel, remarked "My dear boy, it always has been".

Staying at the Royal Crescent in Bath has been compared to stepping into the pages of a Jane Austen novel. Its architecture has remained unchanged since the 18th century when it was built as part of the Royal Crescent by John Wood the Younger, which included some of the grandest houses in Bath.

Ston Easton Park in Somerset also dates back to the mid-18th century and is set within gardens created by landscape gardener Humphry Repton. They include an ice house, a ruined grotto fountain, a sham castle, a rare 18th century plunge pool and Palladian bridges over the river.

The hotels are not in administration and will continue to trade as usual. Angela Swarbrick, joint administrator at Ernst & Young, said: "It is business as normal for the hotels and customers of von Essen Hotels can continue to enjoy their stay."

Von Essen Hotels employs 40 people and another 1,000 work at the 28 hotels. The administrators were unable to say whether they would be sold as a package or individually. "The administrators are working closely with the business to develop the appropriate strategy to take the business forward," said an Ernst & Young spokeswoman.

Source: ' Guardian '

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