Luxury Hotels Atlas / Places / United Kingdom / Newmarket / Bedford Lodge Hotel & Spa
Bedford Lodge Hotel & Spa
Newmarket, Suffolk, United Kingdom · Independent · Accessible Luxury
Bedford Lodge is a Georgian-fronted hotel and spa in Newmarket, on the edge of horse-racing country with gardens, pool, and access to the Cambridgeshire-Suffolk border.
- 77 rooms
- Opened 1940
About Bedford Lodge Hotel & Spa
- The hotel was built around 1820 as a private hunting lodge for John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford, and his wife Anna Maria Russell is credited with inventing the tradition of afternoon tea in the 1840s.
- In 1893 it was bought by Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, who later donated the trophy that became ice hockey's Stanley Cup.
- In the 1920s newspaper magnate Lord Beaverbrook, founder of the Sunday Express, briefly renamed the estate Calvin House before the original name was restored in the 1930s.
- The estate passed through a string of colorful owners, including racehorse owner Sir Joseph Hawley and trainer Joseph Dawson, who added the main stables in 1864.
History
Bedford Lodge Hotel & Spa in Newmarket was built around 1820 as a private hunting lodge for John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford, who oversaw construction of the Grade II-listed Georgian house, stables and a cottage as his Newmarket residence. Over two centuries it passed through a remarkable cast of owners: after the 7th Duke's death in 1861 it was bought by racehorse owner Sir Joseph Hawley, later by trainer Joseph Dawson (who added the main stables in 1864) and Captain James Octavius Machell (who extended the house in 1885), and in 1893 by Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, who gave ice hockey the Stanley Cup.
In the 1920s Lord Beaverbrook, founder of the Sunday Express, briefly renamed it Calvin House, before the name was restored in the 1930s by champion jockey and trainer Harry Wragg's family. It became a family-run hotel in the 1940s and remains privately owned; sold in December 2010 to Review Hotels, it added 22 luxury bedrooms in 2012 (to 77) and opened its spa in July 2013. Notably, the 7th Duke's wife, Anna Maria Russell, is credited with inventing the tradition of afternoon tea.
The setting
9 miles from Anglesey Abbey. 14 miles from Fitzwilliam Museum in central Cambridge.
Awards
- AA Four Red Stars (2025)
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