The Ryebeck Hotel in Windermere has been acquired by Lake District Limited.

This new hospitality business purchased the 29-bedroom country house hotel from the Wildsmith family, for £3 million, in a deal arranged by Colliers.

The Wildsmith family also owns Hipping Hall Hotel and Forest Side Grasmere, the latter recently named AA's Hotel of the Year England 2023.

Sitting on around five acres of landscaped grounds with views overlooking Windermere, the property includes a 60-cover restaurant, a bar and conservatory for guests, parking for 50 cars and a separate cottage housing five en-suite bedrooms.

Until its closure at the end of 2021, the hotel, formerly known as Fayrer Garden Hotel, was operated under management.

A representative of Lake District Limited said: “We’re really excited to be starting our next hospitality business in the Lake District by taking on The Ryebeck Hotel.

"We have previously turned around hotels in London and the north of England and are looking forward to examining the options to reinvigorate this business, and capitalise on the hotel’s location within this tourist hotspot.”

Welcoming the newcomer to the local hotel market, Andrew Wildsmith said: “It’s great to welcome a new player into the Cumbria hotel market, we’re sure that the team’s wealth of experience in managing hotels will help to return The Ryebeck Hotel to its former glory.

"We look forward to seeing how the business develops.”

Julian Troup, head of UK Hotels Agency at Colliers, says that the property attracted 'significant interest'.

He said: “Although closed since the end of 2021, the hotel attracted significant interest from a diverse range of buyers from across the UK, all attracted to the prospect of acquiring a superbly located property in extensive grounds, with views towards Windermere.

“Unsurprisingly the volume of activity was in line with expectations, as a result of this we ran a bidding process and selected Lake District Limited as our preferred bidder.

"We are delighted that they are looking to undertake an extensive refurbishment programme of the property. This transaction adds to the high volume of UK hotel sales that Colliers has concluded already this year and brings our number of completed Cumbrian hotel and hospitality sales to in excess of 50 since the beginning of 2021.”