The Caterer interview Jorge De Jesus The group general manager is behind
two new accommodation models at the Beaverbrook country club in Surrey –
a Victorian village and a secret private house. He reveals all to Emma Lake
Beaverbrook has recently announced it will be expanding its Surrey estate with two luxury accommodation offers set to launch this Christmas – what can you tell us? We’ve developed a Victorian village called Mickleham Village, which is very
exciting.The idea was to create a small village that is great for parties and for families. We’ll have 21 guest rooms, housed across a collection of 10 cot- tages, that can be hired exclusively or guests can take an individual cottage, room or suite. We’ll also have a five-bedroom private house within the village called the Dower House that will sit in a walled oasis of 55 acres.
Tell me more about the Victorian village I think I’m right in saying we will be the first property in the UK to offer the opportunity to hire a village. It will include an event space called the Writer’s Block, a restaurant called Mrs Beeton’s and a courtyard, which will bring everyone together. The feel is relaxed but really luxurious. It should be a lot of fun, whether you’re taking the village exclusively or socialising with other families you’ve not met before. The village will celebrate the best writers
and the artists in the history of the country, so every room and suite is named after a famous writer and artwork has been commissioned to tell their stories. There will be a lot of fun, some mystery and a bit of history. When you walk into these rooms you can immerse your- self in those adventures. The interiors of the cottages have been designed by Nicola Harding. Every room offers a different experience – some have pri- vate gardens, some are designed for families
and have bunk beds. The idea is that you could take one, two or three rooms and have a really great holiday with your family.
What can you tell us about Mrs Beeton’s? It will be our fourth outlet on the estate. We already have our Japanese grill the Dining Room, Anglo-Italian restaurant the Garden House and Pizzeria at the Deli. Mrs Beeton’s will obviously be inspired by the cook Mrs Beeton, with her dishes interpreted in a modern way.
How will the private house in Mickleham allow you to expand your offering? It will offer a very quintessential English experience and be one of the most luxuri- ous houses in the UK, with five bedrooms, a private swimming pool, private treatment room, helipad, its own garden and woodland – all the amenities. There will be no website and no social
media. We don’t want to say it’s just private or exclusive, we want to make sure it is, so we won’t be talking about it or marketing it – it will purely be word of mouth and only a very small group of people will know about it. When guests arrive, we want them to feel
like they have walked into a second home, that they can immediately open the fridge and have a snack. We want to create that homely experience, but guests will have total control over what they would like. They can have a but- ler, they may want a private chef or to cook for themselves. They will have an Aston Martin DBX 707, which they can drive themselves or have a chauffeur. We want guests to feel they can make decisions as they go and there will be a team there to make sure everything happens.
“We just shower guests with
love and generosity because we think they
deserve it”
18 | The Caterer | 10 November 2023
www.thecaterer.com
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