Gerard Basset, co-founder of the Hotel du Vin group, has bought his first new hotel since selling the boutique chain.
Basset and his wife, Nina, bought the Busketts Lawn Hotel in Hampshire for £1.2m on 31 January and are set to invest £1.4m in a full refurbishment before reopening the property as Hotel TerraVina in August.
The 13-bedroom hotel will feature a 60-seat bistro and a private room for up to 25 guests.
Basset, who is completing an MBA in wine, said: "We are not redoing Hotel du Vin, but we will have a lot of good wine, charge a fair price and have friendly service."
He refused to be drawn on whether Busketts Lawn could become the start of a new hotel group. "We need to make this one work first, get it well established and generating money before we think about other plans."