Ex-school to be luxury hotel

Fishmore Hall, a Georgian building in Ludlow, which has been empty for five years, is being redeveloped as a luxury hotel and restaurant complex. The scheme was being carried out by IF Hotels Group.

But progress stalled and the old school building is now under new ownership through a private group.

It is now jointly owned by Laura Penman, Linton Penman, Linda Penman and Peter Loveday.

They are confident that it will be open sometime this autumn.

They plan to change Fishmore Hall, originally a Georgian country home, into a boutique-style hotel with 15 individually designed bedrooms.

An open plan restaurant will also seat up to 40 people while a private function room will host weddings, family celebrations and will have a private function room for business meetings.

The Grade II listed building is currently semi-derelict but its new owners are optimistic they can make the Fishmore Road building into a successful venture on the edge of Ludlow.

Laura Penman, who will run the new hotel, has extensive experience and recently held the post of general manager of the Noel Arms Hotel in Chipping Campden, sister to the well-known Cotswold House Hotel.

She said work was progressing with the redevelopment of Fishmore Hall.

"The building has been empty for about five years," she said.

"It was sad to see such a beautiful building being allowed to fall into such a terrible state. We are working hard to modernise the building and restore it to something of its former glory."

She added: "Although Ludlow is renowned for its top quality restaurants and food festivals and has some excellent B&Bs, there is a real shortage of high quality hotel accommodation in the area.

"It is a gap in the local market that we hope to fill. We hope to open in early October."

Fishmore Hall was formerly known as Hilltop School. It was home to 10 children and was run by Corvedale Care, based in Church Stretton, which is a subsidiary of CareUKPlc.

By Steve Todd