Luxury Hotels Atlas / Places / United Kingdom / Bishop's Stortford / Down Hall Hotel & Spa
Down Hall Hotel & Spa
Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom · Independent · Near Luxury
Matthew Prior bought the Tudor house in 1720 and had Charles Bridgeman lay the gardens. Baron Rookwood rebuilt the Italianate pile in the late 1860s, and it became a hotel in 1986: 98 rooms in 110 acres near Bishop's Stortford, later a set for The Great British Bake Off.
- 98 rooms
- Opened 1986
- Neighborhood: Hatfield Heath / parkland
About Down Hall Hotel & Spa
- WWI sanatorium, then Downham School from 1932. An eight-million-pound redo in 2017.
History
Down Hall stands in 110 acres near Bishop's Stortford on the Hertfordshire-Essex border, on an estate documented from 1322 whose first house was a Tudor building. That earlier house was owned by the poet Matthew Prior, who bought it in 1720 and had its gardens laid out by Charles Bridgeman; the estate later passed to the Selwin family, and the present Italianate mansion was fully rebuilt in the late 1860s by Henry Selwin-Ibbetson, first Baron Rookwood.
Over the twentieth century the house served as a First World War sanatorium, as Downham School from 1932, and as an antiques business and conference center, before being bought in 1986 by the Veladail Group and run as a country-house hotel ever since. Now Down Hall Hotel & Spa, the property received an £8 million refurbishment in 2017 and has hosted television's Great British Bake Off.
The setting
In parkland near Bishop's Stortford, on the Essex-Hertfordshire edge.
Restaurants and bars
- The Garden Room at Down Hall Hotel — Restaurant · Modern British
Amenities
- Spa
- Sauna
- Hot tub
- Fitness center
- Pet-friendly
Awards
- AA Four Red Stars (2025)
Open Down Hall Hotel & Spa in the atlas for live weekend rates, photos, and the full folio.