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HOTEL & SPA


Forest Retreat


W 56


hat hits you fi rst about the fi ve star Lime Wood country house hotel is not the restored Georgian exterior, impressive though it is, nor the tweed-clad staff, nor the brand new spa with its herb-planted


roof. The fi rst thing you notice is the surrounding country- side – the drive up to the hotel takes you through stunning New Forest scenery dotted with wild ponies that amble onto the road with no regard for the traffi c. This is exactly the way the management of Lime Wood want it. The intention was always to let the forest take cen- tre stage. “We like the Britishness of Lime Wood and the fact that we are in the middle of the New Forest,” says Lime Wood Group chairman Robin Hutson. “We are very interested in the provenance of our food and we wanted to incorporate all of these things into the hotel and spa.” With this in mind, guests are encouraged to borrow wel- lies and bikes and explore the surrounding area, while spa


Read Leisure Management online leisuremanagement.co.uk/digital


As five star New Forest hotel Lime Wood opens its new destination spa, Magali Robathan speaks to its chairman Robin Hutson about his plans


guests can practice yoga on the building’s living roof or lounge in the sauna and hydrotherapy pool taking in the for- est views. The hotel uses as much New Forest produce as possible, and employs a dedicated forager to search for wild food in the surrounding woodlands. As well as 29 bedrooms – 16 of which are in the main house, and 13 in three garden lodges – Lime Wood features two restaurants: The Dining Room, which offers a formal dining experience, and the more informal Scullery brasserie. The hotel opened in November 2009, following a reno- vation project that took fi ve years and cost £30m. Its spa, Herb House, opened in November 2010, and is, according to Hutson: “The fi nal piece of the puzzle”.


THE BACKGROUND The Lime Wood story began back in 1999, when busi- nessman Jim Ratcliffe – owner and chairman of the Ineos chemicals group, the UK’s largest privately-owned company


ISSUE 1 2011 © cybertrek 2011


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