Ston Easton sold in Von Essen deal

Ston Easton Park, the country house hotel near Bath, was sold last week for £5m to Von Essen Hotels.

The hotel was owned by Peter and Christine Smedley, who converted the 18th-century mansion into a 22-bedroom hotel in 1982, after buying it in 1977. They have now retired to Guernsey, although they will keep a cottage in the grounds and continue to help the new owners with advice.

Talks about the deal began last November but took a long time to complete because of various complications, including what would happen to the valuable antiques with which the hotel is furnished.

The antiques will now remain in place with Von Essen taking an option to buy them in a year's time. Whichever antiques they choose not to buy will be returned to the Smedleys.

Von Essen is a privately owned, UK-based company. It owns several country house hotels including Congham Hall near Kings Lynn, Norfolk, and the Mount Somerset in Taunton. Ston Easton is intended to be its flagship hotel.

Von Essen's leisure director John Taylor said that there would be no changes to the main house but the stables would be developed for functions and corporate entertainment. Cottages in the walled gardens may also be converted for guests. Both measures are intended to increase profits.

All the staff are to be kept on. Ston Easton's manager, John Parry-Jones, said that he was pleased the sale had been completed as some staff had left during the period of uncertainty about the hotel's future.

Another possible buyer, who was outbid by Von Essen, was Countess Raine Spencer, the stepmother of Diana Princess of Wales. She wanted the hotel as a private house.

The agents in the deal were Knight Frank.

by David Harris