Rewards of the manor

A hotel with a cinema, a thriving outside catering business, a cosy pub, a crèche, a "wicked" centre with X-Boxes and PlayStations for disaffected teenagers and a state-of-the-art spa for stressed-out mums and dads. Must be in the city, right? Wrong.

These are just some of the facilities on offer at Calcot Manor, a 28-bedroom country house hotel near Tetbury in Gloucestershire that back in the 1980s had a Michelin star and hallowed rooms where you might have been more inclined to whisper than to talk. But that was a long time ago in the life of Calcot. Since then it has gone through a complete metamorphosis, one that has allowed it to swim rather than sink, according to managing director Richard Ball.

Richard's father, Brian, had taken early retirement from BP in 1984 to buy Calcot, then a "not very special" five-bedroom house, as a family business. Calcot rode the 1980s country house boom to become a 14-bedroom property with a restaurant that held a Michelin star for seven years.

But the property was undercapitalised, and during the tough times at the end of the 1980s it was a struggle to make money. "We were working for the bank really. There was not enough money to plough back in," says Richard Ball. Fortunately for Calcot, a white knight was waiting in the wings. A wealthy customer bought the property, hired Ball as managing director, and opened up his coffers. It was an ideal moment to re-evaluate what Calcot was all about, and it marked the start of the diversification process.

First came the Gumstool Inn, a move that created a stir in the local community. "It seemed bizarre to many people that an expensive and exclusive hotel was opening up a pub with a swing sign and its own entrance," recalls Ball. More importantly, it was the first time that people didn't have to dress up to visit Calcot, and at the pub they could order sausage and mash cooked by the same brigade that was catering for the Conservatory, Calcot's à la carte restaurant.

"It gave us critical mass, profitability and, most importantly, cash-flow," says Ball. The pub was originally opened for the locals, but it soon became an important part of the equation for hotel guests as well. Guests took to the idea of arriving on a Friday night for a casual meal over a pint and then dressing up for a more formal dinner in the Conservatory the following night.

As the hotel's reputation for food grew, executive chef and director Michael Croft found himself increasingly asked to do private dinner parties for customers. It all spiralled, and in 1999 Calcot Catering was born, soon gaining its own general manager in the form of Andy Cole. It caters for weddings, funerals and corporate parties. All the food is prepared in a separate kitchen in the hotel, adjacent to the main kitchen, and the operation has its own dedicated brigade.

Becoming more child-friendly has also been a key part of the reinvented Calcot, resulting in the accolade of Family Hotel of the Year in the Which? Hotel Guide and the Good Hotel Guide in 2000 and 2001 respectively. More recently the family friendliness was highlighted in the Harden's Hotel Guide 2004, gaining the hotel a coveted "three smiley" award.

"The family option has certainly done us no end of good," says Ball, himself a father of three. "But it wouldn't work in every property. We didn't want to be a total family hotel." Calcot's advantage is that it is not just one main building, but a collection of buildings with 10 family units in a separate block. Young children are not encouraged in the main house.

Until recently Calcot's only facility for children was a crŠche where hotel guests and staff could leave their offspring. This year that has all changed with a £20,000 investment in distractions for youngsters. Younger children have the Playzone, and for older children there is an upstairs area called the Mez, where teenagers can make use of X-Boxes, PlayStations and even a small cinema. Hotel guests pay £5 an hour for under-threes and £3.40 an hour for over-threes, and staff can use the facility at a subsidised rate.

The children's facility is seen as complementary to other hotel facilities, particularly now that Ball has just spent "the best part of a million" adding a spa with a 16m indoor swimming pool, outside Jacuzzi, gym, fitness studio and treatment rooms, including a dry flotation bed and heated hamman massage table.

"Although it was a big investment we felt that we had to do it," says Ball. "We were acutely aware that without facilities we could lose business, and we needed something to help tide us over the winter months."

The spa opened in mid-May, and during the summer months Calcot achieved 90% occupancy, a result that Ball attributes to the new facility. He anticipates a total turnover of £3m this year, of which some £300,000 will come directly from the spa.

The new addition has gone down well with locals as well. An outside membership target of 500 with a joining fee of £200 and a cost of £80 per month was achieved within six weeks. Ball's wife, Cathy, runs the spa, while the overall hotel operation is run by general manager Paul Sadler, who has been at Calcot for 16 years and has seen all its changes. "Paul upholds the standards. Calcot's very much about him," says Ball.

There are plans for the future, too. Some £700,000 is earmarked for an extension to the Conservatory, a cocktail and Champagne bar for drinks before dinner, and a big refit in the kitchen, including separating the two brigades from the Gumstool and the Conservatory.

The final part of the equation is to move the atmosphere on. "There's still a bit of that country house syndrome, where people whisper in the lounge before dinner and sit in comfy armchairs - and we'd like to change that," summarises Ball.

Business breakdown

Total annual turnover: £3m
Outside catering: £300,000
Gumstool Inn: £820,000
Spa: £300,000

Hotel and restaurant

Bedrooms: 28
Anticipated occupancy 2003: 75%

Typical rates

Small double with bed and breakfast for two people, Sunday-Thursday, £165
Junior suite as above, £205
Small double with dinner, bed and breakfast, Sunday-Thursday, including £30 allowance per adult towards dinner in the Conservatory, £208.50 (£230 Friday and Saturday, including three-course unrestricted … la carte dinner for each adult)
Junior suite as above, Sunday-Thursday, £244.50 (£270 Friday and Saturday)
Children sharing a room with their parents pay £20 per night, including breakfast and high tea