Donnington Grove Hotel and Golf Club brought to market for £10m

Donnington Grove Hotel and Golf Club, a country manor house hotel in Newbury, Berkshire has been brought to market, with offers in excess of £10m being sought. The site is set within 250 acres, comprising an 18-hole championship golf course, popular driving range and landscaped grounds. The main manor house comprises 52,000 sq ft. of internal built space, including 40 en-suite guest bedrooms as well as restaurant and bar facilities and four meeting room spaces. There is a lapsed planning consent for an additional 26 bedrooms. Dating back to 1763, The Donnington Grove Hotel and Golf Club’s history has links to Winston Churchill as well as Japanese investors who provided the traditional English country manor with an addition of a Japanese temple and gardens. The hotel is situated in a prime regional location, less than two miles from Newbury town centre, an “idyllic” market town in the South of England within the M4 corridor. The hotel provides access to several attractions such as Donnington Castle and Highclere Castle, the site of Downton Abbey, as well as the Newbury Racecourse. Benefiting from nearby transport links, Donnington Grove has close proximity to Heathrow Airport and is situated ten minutes from Newbury Station, providing access to London Paddington. Max Davies, chairman, said: “Since we acquired the hotel and golf course in 2005, we have substantially invested and improved the asset for the members and its customers. After 17 years of ownership it is now the right time for a new owner to come in and realise the fantastic potential which lies within this property and take it to the next level. We look forward to seeing how the next chapter evolves on this fantastic asset.” Henry Jackson, head of Hotel Agency at Knight Frank, who is handling the sale, added: “Situated only an hour and a half from the West End of London and well located to Oxford, Bath and Bristol, Donnington Grove provides a blank canvas for an incoming purchaser to develop a prime country house hotel. “With its attractive approach, mature grounds and lakes it has considerable potential to develop further. Opportunities such as these so close to London with such a substantial acreage are rare and we look forward to bringing the hotel to the market.”