The Pig owners take over Hunstrete House with plans to re-open by Christmas
The Pig near Bath, as it will be known, will be the third hotel to open under Robin Hutson's The Pig name and will follow The Pig in the New Forest and The Pig in the Wall in Southampton.
Hunstrete House, which closed after it was placed into voluntary liquidation in May 2011, will be given a £3m refurbishment before opening in time for Christmas.
Hutson, chief executive of Home Grown Hotels, said: "Much of the infrastructure is in good condition, so it is just a case of renewing the mechanical and electrical systems and redecorating throughout. The layout will largely remain unchanged - just Piggyfied by Judy."
The newly-acquired property will re-open before Home Grown Hotel's forthcoming hotel The Pig on the Beach in Dorset, which had hoped to open for business this summer, but has been pushed back to spring 2014 following planning complications.
Right location
Hutson said the opportunity for The Pig near Bath had been too good to miss: "We have had our eyes on this area for a while and the location just seven miles from Bath and 12 miles from Bristol is fantastic for us," he said. "It is far enough away from the existing Pigs not to be in competition, has great demographics and has always been an area renowned for great country house hotels. We are really looking forward to reviving this property and making it an integral part of the local scene again.”
A Georgian manor house with extensive grounds, a walled garden, fields and deer park, Hunstrete House was one of the few former Von Essen hotels not to be sold off out of administration as it remained personally owned by Andrew Davis.
Home Grown Hotels plans to renovate the 30-bedroom hotel's kitchen garden and add a greenhouse to the restaurant to resemble the one at The Pig in the New Forest. Garden buildings will be converted into guest accommodation and the whole property will be refurbished in the same shabby chic style that has become The Pig's signature.
