Leeu Collection has closed the acclaimed Lake District hotel Linthwaite House for a £10 million renovation. The hotel will undergo a substantial transformation, re-opening on 1 November 2017 with more contemporary interiors and extended public areas. Several new guest rooms, set within the hotel’s extensive grounds, will open in 2018.
Originally built as a five-bedroom family residence in 1901, Linthwaite was converted into a B&B in 1969 and has grown over the years into what it is today, a 30-bedroom boutique hotel set with 5.7 hectares of landscaped gardens and a private tarn. Its location, above Bowness-on-Windermere and with panoramic views across Lake Windermere to the fells of the South Lakes, offers guests complete privacy.
Leeu Collection acquired Linthwaite House from Mike Bevan (who had owned the property for over 25 years) in April 2016. Since its purchase, Leeu Collection has run the business as it was while pulling together design ideas and securing planning permission, ready for the renovation project to begin and elevate Linthwaite to the next level in the hotel world.
All 30 rooms in the main building of Linthwaite House will be refreshed, while the public areas on the ground floor will be extended substantially onto the existing terrace to create an informal dining area (in addition to the existing three AA Rosette restaurant) and flexible spaces that can be used for high-level meetings and events.
Once work on the main building is complete, work will start on the creation of three garden cottages (each with two spacious rooms) with spectacular views of Lake Windermere and surrounding fells. The addition of the cottages will bring the total inventory to 36 rooms.
Beverley Boswell Designs, who created the interiors at South African sister properties Leeu Estates and Leeu House, as well as overseeing the ongoing refurbishment at Le Quartier Français, is in charge of Linthwaite House’s re-design. Landscape artist Franchesca Watson is responsible for the new garden design.