WORK to renovate a country cottage at a hotel in Hampton-in-Arden has been allowed to continue after Solihull Council reviewed its impact on local nature.
Hampton Manor, a four-star hotel in Hampton-in-Arden, is set to expand with the refurbishment of ‘Manor Cottage,’ a mid-19th century detached house.
As well as adding rooms to the hotel, the project also includes a new café inside a historic walled garden.
Following a bat survey, the council has granted permission for building work to be completed with minimal impact on roosting animals.
The owners of Hampton Manor, Derrick and Jan Hill, have charged their son James with overseeing the renovation.
Having owned Hampton Manor for over 12 years, the family bought the adjacent Manor Cottage and its walled garden in 2017.
According to planning documents, they are working on a construction project which will upgrade the historic cottage ‘for small off-site meetings and family celebrations for up to ten guests.’
A stable yard will see replica stories able buildings accommodate guests in new bedrooms.
Staff at Hampton Manor are also in the midst of work to grow the hotel’s first produce in their kitchen garden, which will supply the Michelin-starred restaurant.
Architects Hollingworth Dean-Walker also submitted plans to Solihull Council for a new café on the site, replacing a derelict ‘pineapple house.’
The heated glasshouse is in ruins, but the proposed café will allow visitors to see the walled garden in addition to hotel residents.
A potting shed which stands in the walled garden would be opened as a tasting room, with stores and a small shop for produce grown at the hotel.
‘The Smokehouse’ will have an area to demonstrate pickling and preserving of food, with a bakery also built nearby.
