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Windermere’s Ryebeck Hotel has been purchased for £3m by hospitality company Lake District Limited.
Lake District Limited bought the 29-bedroom country house hotel from the Wildsmith family, who also owns Hipping Hall Hotel and Forest Side Grasmere, which was recently named AA’s Hotel of the Year England 2023.
Overlooking Lake Windermere, Ryebeck Hotel, formerly known as Fayrer Garden Hotel, was run under management until it closed for business at the end of 2021.
The property sits in five acres of landscaped grounds with a 60-cover restaurant, residents’ bar and conservatory area, parking for 50 cars and a detached former cottage which contains five of the en-suite bedrooms.
A representative of Lake District Limited said: “We’re really excited to be starting our next hospitality business in the Lake District by taking on the Ryebeck Hotel. We have previously turned around hotels in London and the north of England and are looking forward to examining the options to reinvigorate this business, and capitalise on the hotel’s location within this tourist hotspot.”
Andrew Wildsmith said: “It’s great to welcome a new player into the Cumbria hotel market, we’re sure that the team’s wealth of experience in managing hotels will help to return the Ryebeck Hotel to its former glory. We look forward to seeing how the business develops.”
Julian Troup, head of UK hotels agency at Colliers, who handled the sale, added: “Although closed since the end of 2021, the hotel attracted significant interest from a diverse range of buyers from across the UK, all attracted to the prospect of acquiring a superbly located property in extensive grounds, with views towards Lake Windermere.
“Unsurprisingly the volume of activity was in line with expectations, as a result of this we ran a bidding process and selected Lake District Limited as our preferred bidder. We are delighted that they are looking to undertake an extensive refurbishment programme of the property. This transaction adds to the high volume of UK hotel sales that Colliers has concluded already this year and brings our number of completed Cumbrian hotel and hospitality sales to in excess of 50 since the beginning of 2021.”
