Your Hosts
Nigel & Jackie started their careers in hospitality as teenagers, renovating their first terraced house in Ambleside and converting it from a family home to a 9 bedroomed Guest House serving Dinners, and raising two young children. Within 4 years they moved from "Lattendales" to an Edwardian detached property in a prime location in Windermere, redeveloped the building to provide 12 letting bedrooms, employed their first small team of helpers, and grew from strength to strength. After 2 successful seasons they moved a mile up the road and purchased The Mountain Ash Hotel, with 23 bedrooms, a Bar and Restaurant and expanded the workforce up to a team of 50 staff, serving up to 200 meals a day!
Following 7 hard working years, it was time for a lifestyle change, they sold and moved to Western Canada, following a dream for a new life with sun, snow, wildlife, wilderness, lots of space and adventure.
Sadly, the dream was not to reach fruition on this occasion, and they returned to the UK, back to Ambleside, bought the Cherry Garth Hotel, and started to re-design the existing business and introduce a new model for the Bed and Breakfast industry.
Two exciting years of renovating, rebuilding and trading The Cherry Garth propelled Nigel and Jackie back into the fast lane, and in 1998 they bought Rothay Holme, originally built as a Gentleman's Residence, later owned by the National Trust and used as their Head Office, it was converted into a Hotel in 1997, traded unsuccessfully, and sold in distress. Always looking for an opportunity, Nigel and Jackie embraced the chance to enhance a beautiful Victorian property, that needed love, enthusiasm and experience.
Within a year, and with a new name, the Ambleside Lodge trebled its business, showing huge potential to the new ideas introduced. Never fearing a challenge, Nigel and Jackie embarked on repeating the success at the Ambleside Lodge and bought the Horseshoe Hotel, just 200 yards away, embarked on a 12 month renovation project, and opened the newly named Brathay Lodge to trade alongside the Ambleside Lodge. Timing was not perfect, 3 weeks after opening Foot and Mouth hit the Lake District, however, Nigel & Jackie prevailed, and proved to be very successful in difficult times.
After 6 amazing years it was time to try for the dream again, they sold up, headed west, across the Atlantic, and kept going to Western Canada.
2003 was an "Helter Skelter" year, arriving full of enthusiasm, energy, and a heart brimming over with the thoughts of success in one of the most spectacular countries of the world. Warmth, sunshine, canoeing, ski-ing, champagne powder snow, mountains, lakes, Canada was overflowing with peace and tranquility.
But the dream got quashed once more......................... and in 2005 Nigel & Jackie were back in the heart of the Lake District, slap bang in the centre of Grasmere, taking on the most challenging project yet. Having purchased the Moss Grove Hotel, they decided to implement their own personal way of life in to the Hotel. It would be one of the first carbon neutral properties, organic in both materials, food and development, and aiming to prove that to be environmentally friendly you did not have to compromise on quality, they set about restoring the building into a 5 star Hotel, with a low carbon footprint.
Large Farmhouse style Kitchen, where guests would come into the kitchen to help themselves to the prepared Breakfast Buffet, natural wood floors, tiles, clay paints (no VOC off gassing), Therma Fleece (sheeps wool) insulation, filtered water throughout, LED lighting, 100% wool carpets, leather furnishings and reclaimed Timber Beds. Goose & Duck Down Duvets, 100% Cotton Sheets and an organic Mediterranean style breakfast. It was a totally new concept for the Lake District, and once the doors opened, the guests started flowing in from all over the world.
Still hankering for a life in Canada, it was an amazing moment for Nigel and Jackie, when a complete stranger walked in to the Moss Grove Organic Hotel and offered to buy it. They accepted the offer, and set off once again to try and live the dream - third time lucky!!
This time Nigel & Jackie eventually managed to settle in British Columbia, they worked on several residential properties, converting run down houses into Dream Homes, and then purchased one of the oldest buildings in the town of Kelowna, where they totally restored the building and converted it into 6 Luxury Apartments. Their work with the Heritage Society led them to contribute to rewriting the Heritage Building Code with the City Council.
For a while life was good. Unfortunately, things happen, and for one reason or another, Nigel & Jackie found themselves needing an alternative place to rest their heads. More by default, rather than planning, they arrived in Grange-over-Sands, and this substantial Victorian property, now known as Grange Boutique Hotel, seemed to have their name written on it, in need of a period of nourishment, TLC, and holistic well being. Both the building itself and the developers have used the project as a healing and creative process, to restore goodness and well being back into the health and prosperity of each other. The Rooms and Suites are unique in decor and furnishings, the Infra Red Sauna's have amazing health benefits, the Spa Baths relaxing and huge, the Breakfasts are cooked with love and passion, by Nigel, using local ingredients, purchased fresh every day and delivered to your Suite by Jackie.
