Heritage Estates acquires Cockliffe hotel for £1m

Heritage Estates has acquired Cockliffe country house hotel in Nottinghamshire in a deal worth around £1m.

The 11-bedroom 17th-century former farmhouse will receive a further investment of £1m to update its bedrooms, restaurant and conference facilities.

All existing staff will be retained as part of the deal, though Heritage Estates has plans for a new head chef and sous chef.

Heritage Estates group director Jon-Paul Davies said the hotel would retain its own identity, like sister hotel Kelham House country manor near Newark-on-Trent.

He added: "We've been lucky enough to have a fantastic start to trading at Kelham House since we acquired it in 2009 and when we saw Cockliffe we knew we could do the same there too.

"It's a beautiful, individual building that has traded well for a long time, but it was obviously in need of a strong plan in terms of investment and strategy. The location feels very rural but within easy reach of Nottingham, Mansfield and Southwell and, apart from anything else, we fell in love with it and felt it deserved to be brought back to where it should be."

The refurbishment will begin in January, with phase one expected to be completed by April.