Major revamp for Northamptonshire hotel and golf course would provide a 'unique and high quality' venue

A major revamp of a country hotel and golf course could get the go-ahead from councillors.

The owners of Farthingstone Hotel and Golf Course, near Daventry, want to knock down the hotel and build a series of new buildings, including a new hub, a leisure building and 60 holiday huts.

The 100-acre site has been owned by Fifty Five Hospitality since May 2022.

It said it bought it to create “a unique, high quality hospitality venue set amongst a revitalised landscape managed for nature.”

Buildings that would be demolished include the current 16-bedroom hotel, a three-bedroom bungalow and other outbuildings.

Other amenities including a bar, restaurant and squash courts would also go.

Improvements would include increased biodiversity across the golf course, a solar hub, new staff quarters and a deer-proof enclosure around the perimeter of the whole site.

The company said: “Fifty Five Hospitality’s leisure model connects hospitality with the natural environment, allowing guests to reconnect with the natural environment that [the company’s] investment and ongoing revenue will help to restore and maintain.

“This nature first approach is wholly different to the approach previously taken at Farthingstone, where nature has been subordinate to the leisure use.”

It said “membership and trading performance of the golf club was declining pre-pandemic and the operation, facilities and amenities are no longer fit for purpose in an increasingly competitive and shrinking marketplace.”

On its website it said it will “re-nature” about 80 acres of wildflower meadows and woodlands “replanted with native special species to create bio-corridors linking Mantles Heath and Knightly Wood”.

It said all new buildings will have a “light touch on the landscape and will remain visually subservient to the natural environment we are creating”.

The company ran consultation events, including two at Farthingstone Village Hall last October.

West Northamptonshire Council said it received 52 letters in support and 12 objections but that parish councils were “not entirely supportive”.

Preston Capes Parish Council objected, while Farthingstone said it was worried about the impact of traffic and the proposed deer-proof fencing.

Everdon Parish Council said it was concerned about traffic and the impact on the landscape and ecology.

West Northamptonshire Council’s strategic planning committee will decide on the application on 20 June.