North East hospitality company The Apartment Group has transformed a former country hotel in County Durham into its latest luxury venue.
The group, which owns Newcastle bars ChaChaBuchi, The Holy Hobo and Zarabanda, first outlined plans to invest millions of pounds into Jersey Farm Country Hotel and Whitworth Hall Hotel & Deer Park after acquiring them two years ago. Plans to turn them into luxury boutique hotels were put on hold during the pandemic lockdowns, but the company – which also has popular Northumberland hotels Newton Hall and Le Petit Chateau – is now putting the final touches on Runa, the renamed Jersey Farm, ahead of its opening this month.
The makeover has been orchestrated by chief executive Debrah Dhugga, who previously managed luxury hotels in London and Dubai. She described Runa as “a hotel, country pub and boho wedding venue quite unlike any other seen in the UK, combining natural rural beauty with Balearic vibes”. The Apartment Group has invested a significant sum into Runa, which is based close to Barnard Castle and the North Yorkshire border, taking its name from the first two letters of ‘rural’ and ‘nature’.
