South-western hoteliers Michael and Amanda James have bought Rumwell Manor country house hotel in the Somerset hamlet of Rumwell for in excess of the £1.4m asking price.

It joins their existing portfolio of Salisbury House hotel in Taunton and Watersmeet hotel in Woolacombe, Devon.
 
The three-star, Grade II-listed Georgian property is believed to have been built around 1840 for a member of the Cadbury family and commands south-westerly views over the Vale of Taunton towards the Blackdown Hills.
 
Rumwell Manor occupies a four acre site and comprises a main house and a complex of converted coach houses/stables and a 1980s extension arranged around a courtyard.
 
Along with 20 en-suite bedrooms to sleep 40 guests, it has a lounge-bar, a restaurant that can seat between 34 to 50 guests, and two meeting rooms – the Quantock and Wellington rooms – that can seat 16 and 26 people respectively boardroom-style.

 
The owners’ flat provides a double bedroom, L-shaped living room, kitchen, bathroom and private garden.

The new owners are planning a big extension to add a new function room and more letting bedrooms.  As well as building on a healthy corporate, business, conference, functions and small wedding trade, they also inted to develop sales of lunches, dinners, coffees and afternoon teas to non-residents.
 
The Cirencester office of Colliers Robert Barry sold the hotel on behalf of the Coles family, which retains the Rumwell Inn (the only pub in the hamlet) across the road which they acquired last autumn through the Exeter office of Christie + Co.

By Angela Frewin