Four-star Cumbrian hotels sold in £1.5m deal

Mike and Angela Dunbobbin have bought the award-winning Appleby Manor Country House hotel in Cumbria for £1.5m.

The husband-and-wife team have been running the four-star hotel for the past eight years. They have bought it from Mike's parents Ronnie and Marjorie Dunbobbin, the major shareholders, who are now retiring.

The property occupies a semi-rural spot at the top of a hill that commands views over Appleby Castle, the Eden Valley and the Lake District peaks.

It was built as Garbridge house in 1877 by local solicitor John Alcock Heelis and converted into a hotel in the late 1940s. It gained its current name in 1976.

Appleby Manor was voted the Small Hotel of the Year in the 2008 Cumbria Tourist Awards.

It offers 31 bedrooms, a 100-seat restaurant and two conference rooms, one able to accommodate up to 35 guests theatre-style and the second with room for 12 delegates boardroom-style.

The indoor leisure club includes full-size pool and table tennis tables, a Jacuzzi, a plunge pool, an infra-red sauna, a Turkish steam room and a vertical solarium.

Funding for the transaction was provided by the Royal Bank of Scotland,

By Angela Frewin