Venue Video
Description
Visualise a stunning country house hotel reached via a half mile tree lined private driveway and surrounded by 80 acres of woodland and formal gardens with 10 separate conference spaces seating from 8-500 delegates, 91 bedrooms and extensive grounds for activities and entertaining.
Located just an hour outside of London with good train links from Wokingham and Bracknell stations plus the Elizabeth Line which runs from nearby Twyford and Reading. We are very conveniently located for access to the M4, M3, M40 and M25. Heathrow airport is 19 miles away.
This magnificent Victorian Mansion Hotel is a Grade II listed property, which has undergone £10m+ renovation and re-design of the entire property, completing in 2021 and resulting in a premium hotel, event and dining destination which has retained all the charm of its grand Victorian heritage.
The venue is perfect for residential or day conferences, exhibitions, product launches, training workshops, team building, weddings and large special events.
Facilities include:
• 91 well-appointed en-suite bedrooms & suites
• 2 Restaurants & Cocktail Bar
• Extensive Al Fresco dining area
• East Park Gym & Pilates Studio
• The King Suite with capacity of up to 500 theatre / 480 banquet / 440 cabaret
• The Downshire Ballroom with capacity of up to 160 theatre / 110 banquet / 80 cabaret
• Tawney Bar, Orangery & Terrace with light festooned stretch tent
• Trumbull cabaret style conference room seating up to 70 delegates
• 9 further meeting rooms with capacity from 10 – 40 delegates
• Extensive Grounds for team building, outdoor events and barbecues
• Wedding Pavilion
• Helicopter landing facility
• Extensive car parking
The estate itself has a fascinating history. In the 13th Century, it was used as a local political court complete with gallows, however by the mid-14th Century it went back to being owned by the Crown and a Royal hunting lodge was built. This is where the future Henry VIII, then aged 12, first set his eyes upon the King of Spain’s daughter, Catherine of Aragon, as she prepared to marry his brother, Arthur. Upon Arthur’s death 6 months later, Henry and Catherine were betrothed and some 30 years later she was to be banished back to the estate when the King divorced her.
In the early 1600’s, King Charles I gifted the Estate to the Trumbull family and the Royal hunting lodge was incorporated into a newly built mansion house. The mansion remained as a private residence and the seat of the Marquis of Downshire. In the 1860’s the old house was demolished to make way for the new and current mansion, Easthampstead Park House.
During World War II, the 7th Marquis of Downshire moved out of the mansion to allow it to be used as a refuge and school for up to 600 boys from St Paul’s school in Hammersmith.
After the war, the estate was sold to Berkshire County Council and the Mansion went through the transition of becoming a female teacher training academy, a comprehensive school and finally, a wedding and conference center before being sold to its current owners, Active Hospitality, in 2018.