Cotswold Manor House Hotel Dumbleton Hall Sold

Posted by Colliers on 1st April 2021 -

Dumbleton Hall, a country house hotel in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, has been sold to a US-based buyer in a deal brokered by global real estate advisor Colliers.

The 38 bedroom Grade II* listed property, which is set in nearly 16 acres of parkland with an ornamental lake, has been purchased for an undisclosed sum off a £6 million guide price, following significant national and international interest which culminated in over 10 formal offers being submitted.

The former manor house has a history dating back to 1534, and had been brought to the market for the first time in over 60 years by Colliers acting as sole agent on behalf of the owner, POFR (Post Office Fellowship of Remembrance).

Julian Troup, head of UK Hotels Agency at Colliers, said: “Dumbleton Hall is the most significant single asset hotel opportunity to become available in the Cotswolds for a generation, and this sale during an elevated period of uncertainty brought about by the effects of COVID-19 shows how high quality hotel assets will continue to appeal to the market.

“We succeeded in achieving such significant domestic and overseas interest from our open marketing campaign that we were instructed to invite offers from the extensive list of interested parties, as a result of this we generated over 10 formal offers.

“The fact that the successful bidder is an overseas buyer highlights a trend we have noted among the hotels we are marketing, and underlines how international investors can see the enormous potential available in premium UK hotels which are already established businesses but also have potential for significant further growth

“In the case of Dumbleton Hall, the buyer is based in the US and had been looking for a suitable opportunity for a good deal of time.”

Mr Troup added that despite the challenges resulting from the pandemic and lockdowns, the hotels market had remained active.

“The Hotels Agency team at Colliers has been selling nearly a hotel a week in the last 12 months, and this week we have had two landmark provincial deals with Dumbleton Hall and The Wateredge Inn on Lake Windermere. The fact that we are continuing to see sales and acquisitions shows the underlying demand from prospective purchasers as well as demonstrating the ability of Colliers to appeal to a regional, national and global audience,” he said.

“We expect to see continuing keen buyer demand in 2021, and have already seen an uplift in general activity as the vaccine programme facilitates a return to greater normality.”

Dumbleton Hall is now owned by Dumbleton Hall Hotel Property Company Limited, a newly incorporated company, which is controlled by Paul Vezolles, President of Chatham Park Development L.L.C, Charlotte, North Carolina, in the United States.

Located near the border between Worcestershire and Gloucester, between the riverside market town of Evesham and the Regency spa town of Cheltenham, Dumbleton Hall has magnificent views over the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Vale of Evesham.

Hotels Agency director Peter Brunt, who conducted the sale, said the offer for Dumbleton Hall had been made during the first national lockdown.

“It is unsurprising that Dumbleton Hall attracted keen interest even during lockdown, as it offers arguably the best opportunity left in the region to create an up-scale country house hotel to rival the best in the land,” he said.

“It is a well-established country house hotel and a popular licensed wedding venue, in an easily accessible yet secluded location in the Cotswolds. Current trading performance is good, but there is a very considerable opportunity to reposition the hotel and trade at much higher levels. This, in part, is reflected in the annual room occupancy results of 76 per cent, while sales in the last financial year were just under £2 million (net).

“While truly a leisure destination, Dumbleton Hall also offers commercial business opportunities given its location only half an hour from the business and tourist hub of Cheltenham, only 15 minutes from the M5 motorway and with two huge populations to draw on within an hour’s drive in Bristol and Birmingham.”

The original Dumbleton Hall can be traced back to 1534, as the home of the Cocks family for over 200 years.

It fell into disrepair after the death of Sir Richard Cocks in the late 18th century, and was eventually demolished and then rebuilt in the mid-1800s using Cotswold stone as a classic country house for the Eyres family, who hosted visitors including Sir John Betjeman and the Mitford sisters. In 1959, it was acquired for hotel use by POFR (Post Office Fellowship of Remembrance).