Horwood Home is a powerful manor in-built 1911 with a protracted drive, mullion home windows and spectacular gardens. It was owned by the De Vere group, when it was identified primarily as a convention resort. In 2019 it was purchased by Karim Kassam, the pinnacle of Ziz Properties, for £15.5 million and has had a number of extra tens of millions spent on it.
Mr Kassam says he needs to draw the ‘leisure market’ however I concern it’s a misplaced trigger. The varied extensions and redbrick wings are so ugly that you just really feel sorry for the primary home presiding over such an unsympathetic sprawl.
After I arrive after darkish in a taxi from close by Milton Keynes station, the driving force stops outdoors the entrance door but it surely’s all locked up and darkish.
‘Horwood Home (pictured) is a powerful manor in-built 1911 with a protracted drive, mullion home windows and spectacular gardens,’ writes the Inspector
The reception space has been moved not far away behind computerized sliding doorways, the place gold radiators and laminated flooring give method to a contemporary model of swirly whirly carpets, with indicators in all places telling you tips on how to get from A to B.
The sorry reality is that the indicators come in useful as a result of there are such a lot of corridors, so many little staircases, so many equivalent sharp turns.
There are greater than 150 rooms; a spa (with indoor pool and health club) and ten ‘occasion areas’. My dinner, mattress and breakfast bundle prices £139, which is sweet worth, besides that the room, though immaculately clear, is missing in appeal. It jogs my memory of an airport resort — and there may be at all times one thing dispiriting about anti-theft hangers.
An outside terrace on the resort. There are greater than 150 rooms at Horwood Home, in addition to a spa and ten ‘occasion areas’
There are two eating places however just one is open for dinner. It’s a soulless, clanking, canteen-style area however the primary horror is my salt and pepper squid, which seems as if it has simply been thawed from the freezer and popped within the microwave. The accompanying tomato salsa has an odd aftertaste.
I retreat to my room and sleep soundly earlier than taking an early morning stroll across the grounds. Percy Thrower (Blue Peter, Gardeners’ World) grew up right here as a result of his father was the pinnacle gardener.
Breakfast is served within the 1911 restaurant, the place you assist your self to espresso from a merchandising machine and a spartan buffet is on provide. I order scrambled eggs on brown toast. The eggs are powdery however the espresso is surprisingly good.
Mr Kassam was courageous to take this on. Let’s hope the company world will come to the rescue.