Callow Hall is a well-established Grade II listed country house hotel providing luxury accommodation for tourism and business from its location just outside Ashbourne. However, the existing hotel currently has just 16 bedrooms which restricts its ability to hold larger functions/conferences and, consequently, affects its overall viability. The Hive Hotel Group bought the site about 18 months ago and have publicly stated that their ambition to preserve the character of the property and protect the natural environment which surrounds it.
For the past year PDP have been commissioned by Hive to provide planning consultancy services on a number of exciting proposals for Callow Hall including:
- Conversion of the Grade II listed former stables/coach house building to 4 holiday suites working alongside Childs Sulzmann Architects. This application was approved in September 2019 and work to discharge the conditions is ongoing.
- Minor internal and external alterations to the main Callow Hall building working alongside Tate Harmer Architects. Planning consent was obtained in July 2019.
- Creation of a new car park to the east of the access drive working alongside Childs Sulzmann Architects. Planning permission was granted in November 2019.
Applications are also pending for a garden room extension to the west of the main building and, most excitingly of all, the erection of 11 treehouses in the wood to the west of the main hall. This is particular challenging as it is designated as ancient woodland, which gives it a very high degree of protection. As such we need to ensure that we don’t do anything to harm the integrity or unique character of the woodland.
All of these applications have had their challenges and have required the input of numerous 3rd party consultants including heritage specialists, tree consultants, ecologists, structural engineers and landscape architects. Part of our job has been to advise on what is required, coordinate the documents and liaise with Derbyshire Dales District Council who we have good working relations with. We look forward to obtaining consent for the remaining 2 applications and seeing Callow Hall to being to prosper again in 2020.
Main Image: Blue Forest (UK) Limited