Deer Park hotel to become wedding and events venue

Deer Park Country House hotel in Honiton will no longer operate as a hotel to focus on its wedding and events business.

The 18th century Devon property previously operated as a four-AA-starred, 33-bedroom hotel with a two AA rosette restaurant and was frequently used as an exclusive use venue.

However, from next month the business will focus on the events side and the restaurant, overseen by head chef Richard Still and executive chef Hadleigh Barrett, will no longer open for lunch and dinner service.

Mark Godfrey, managing director of Deer Park Country House, said: "The demand for Deer Park as a wedding and event venue just keeps growing… we feel it's the right time to focus on that side of our business… it's a logical progression of all the massive effort and investment we've been putting in over the past few years.

"The hard part of the decision is that we'll genuinely miss hosting guests for lunches, dinners and overnight stays. It's been a real joy that so many of our local customers have grown into genuine friends. We don't intend to lose touch, however. Deer Park Country House will still be hosting charity events and summer and winter balls, and we have just received planning permission for a new Cider Barn."

Deer Park Country House is privately owned by Godfrey and Nigel Wray. John Spiller-Jones will remain general manager of the property.

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