A new hotel is set to open in Northumberland in the grounds of a 150-acre country estate after a leisure company secured a £5.7m finance deal.
Charlton Hall Estate is already home to a Grade II* listed, 18th century hall and accommodation, at Chathill near Alnwick, Northumberland. The venue is one of two owned by The Doxford Group which have been specialising in weddings, private events and luxury accommodation for the last five years.
Owner and director Richard Shell started with Doxford Barns in 2017, who was seeking to create a barn wedding venue in the heart if Northumberland, similar to sites that had become popular in the south of the UK. Mr Shell quit a career in banking to launch The Doxford Group, persuading is parents to let him take on two empty barns and convert them into Doxford Barns. Soon after, he launched Charlton Hall.
Read more: National Geographic goes mad for Newcastle
Now the Charlton Hall Estate is set to expand with a new 15-bedroom hotel, restaurant and bar, which is planned to open early next year, as part of plans to boost existing services and create a destination estate within the area, thanks to the funding deal from Natwest.
Mr Shell, a former winner of the award for rural diversification at the North East Rural Awards, said: “This is a monumental moment for The Doxford Group as it allows us to deliver on the short-term projects we’ve been working on for several months including the launch of our new hotel at Charlton Hall Estate making it a leisure destination in Northumberland like no other as well as our plans to develop Doxford Barns to enhance what we have built over the past seven years. Our plans will generate 40 new jobs within The Doxford Group which is great for the county.
“To have the support from NatWest is significant and something I am grateful for as they share our ambition for further expansion in the way of acquisitions of more venues and our hotel. I started my career with the group in Edinburgh which drove me to act on my entrepreneurial skills, open my first wedding and events venue, Doxford Barns and now take The Doxford Group to new and exciting heights.”
Group finance director at The Doxford Group, Mark Gubbins, added: “This deal is the culmination of several months work and to have secured such funding as the hospitality sector recovers from the pandemic, and faces new challenges, is testimony to the offering that we possess at Doxford. Having worked closely with Mike Cross and his team at NatWest previously I know the sector expertise that they possess and we welcome them on board as we take The Doxford Group to the next level in the coming years, with several exciting and innovative projects in the pipeline.”
Michael Cross, relationship director at NatWest, said: “Richard, Mark and the team at The Doxford Group are at an exciting period in terms of the organisation’s growth and development. Throughout our time working together, I have been impressed by the management team’s vision for the business and how they have grown the business. It’s a pleasure to support them with funding for their expansion plans.”
Read next
- First look as work starts on the world's largest play structure at Alnwick Garden
- Northumberland hotel named one of the best hillside hideaways
- Four North East gardens named the most scenic to walk your dog in Northern England this summer
- From Belsay Hall to Holy Island: The Northumberland gardens you can visit this summer
- A Northumberland hotel's unique link to the Titanic which has attracted tourists from China to America
