An Edwardian ‘Gentleman’s Manor’
Broomhill lies roughly 3 miles to the North of Barnstaple, a historical market town with a distinguished past that is the largest town in North Devon, UK. An important centre of commerce, Barnstaple was apparently one of four ‘burhs’ allowed to mint their own coins, with the town being granted a charter with rights to hold Markets and a Fair by King Athelstan. The property lies in a picturesque and (we think) unnamed valley carved out by ‘Braddiford Water,’ a stream running through the valley. Braddiford Water is created by numerous tributary streamlets throughout the valley. It flows into the Taw river before joining the Taw and Torrige estuary and, subsequently, the Bristol Channel. The property lies within the North Devon Biosphere, an official UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
Broomhill was initially created as a single-family ‘Gentleman’s Manor’ house. Construction began during the late Victorian era and finished in the Edwardian period - in either 1911 or 1913, so we are told. Originally, the property was part of a 200-acre estate. This acreage was ultimately split into parcels amongst five different families, living together on the same hill on the Western side of the valley.
Broomhill Country House Hotel (1950s-1997)
Sometime in the 1950s Broomhill was re-purposed into an idyllic ‘B&B’ type guest house off the beaten path, known as the Broomhill Country House Hotel. Guests were treated to a swimming pool, tennis court, manicured lawns and invigorating woodland walks. The photos below are from this time period.
The hotel subsequently went through a number of different local owners, some of which we’ve already had the pleasure to meet in person (though we don’t have the contact details). If any previous owners have any information or photos they would like to share, or would even like a section on this website, please do reach out to us at info@broomhill-estate.com. We would love to hear from you (again).
Broomhill Art Hotel (1997-2020)
In 1997 Dutch couple Rinus van de Sande and Aniet van Hoof purchased Broomhill and immediately began to breathe a new type of artistic life into the property. The hotel offering pivoted to the arts, rebranding as an Art Hotel. The two sculpture gardens were put in place during this time. The gardens in front of the building were mainly devoted to a permanent sculpture collection. The collections included a significant collection of early-generation Shona sculptures, along with bodies of work from artists such as Mike Roles, Greta Berlin, Sandy Brown and Ronald A. Westerhuis. The hotel featured a cafe on the terrace and ‘Terra Madre’, a tapas restaurant. There were also several legendary ‘Jazz Nights’ that are still remembered fondly by locals. It was during this period that an additional 4 acres of land to the SE of the hotel, alongside the stream, were added to the property’s footprint. A large car park was created in this section of water meadows and a second sculpture garden was devoted to the rest. This garden was largely dedicated to showcasing the National Sculpture Prize, a UK-based competition hosted by Rinus and Aniet to identify and reward top emerging talent in outdoor sculpture. The competition was sponsored by Rinus and Aniet 10 times. This website contains information for all the competition finalists, contact us at info@broomhill-estate.com with any updates.
Given the uncertainties around Brexit, Rinus and Aniet sold Broomhill in 2020 to Alex and Michele Kleiner (us) and moved to Spain. They have created Arte-Contemporary, a sculpture park and independent art gallery located in La Ràpita, in the beautiful Ebro Delta in Catalonia, 2 hours from Barcelona.
Broomhill Estate (2020-2024)
Alex and Michele (us) purchased Broomhill in 2020, using a Covid lockdown to renovate the property to a boutique standard, while retaining the original staff (and not furloughing any individuals). The renovation and hotel operations were managed by Jaqui Dabell and a strong housekeeping team that lovingly brought the house back to life each day, most notably led by Shelly Dyer and Claire Smith.
Our gardens and art curation were managed by Charlie Powell as Art Coordinator, working closely with the site team of Paul Cowie and Andrew Parker. During this period, additional acreage in the water meadows was purchased, leading from the house toward Blakewell fisheries. The team fully adopted the concept of an 'art hotel' with sculpture and art inside and outside the building, lounges devoted to different art forms as we saw them (Music, Cinema, and Taxidermy).
After having a break due to Covid, Charlie and the team hosted another year of The National Sculpture Prize and an acclaimed exhibition featuring members from the Royal Society of Sculptors (RSS).
Perhaps as strongly as anything, we embraced the concept of art as it relates to cuisine and sustainability, culminating in the re-design and re-launching of our restaurant as 'Canvas', pioneering a concept where the restaurant became an art installation that changed in tandem with menu changes. On offer for the local community, and guests staying in one of our seven rooms was a seven-course tasting menu in an intimate setting of seven tables. Canvas was run by Chef Elio Dabae and Restaurant Manager and superstar mixologist Josh Houben, with Alex on pot wash.
Even in its early days, Canvas was already well on its way to receiving strong accolades in terms of local and regional Gold food awards from Taste of the South West, Food Drink Devon and inclusion in the Trencherman’s guide to fine dining. For us, the idea of curating the menu with an art installation went well beyond just art on the walls. As much effort was put into designing the physical environment as the menu - with Charlie, Elio, Josh and the team curating the entire restaurant with the menu, from the tablescape to the lighting. In particular, each part of the restaurant could be bathed in 8 million colours of LED lighting, along with gallery-grade spot lighting. From a food perspective, Elio was manically persnickety about using ingredients from Britain - the British Isles, not the colonies. Elio used sea salt from Cornwall, for example, but substitutes for pepper as it is not native to Britain. The more locally sourced, the better, ideally coming from the new Kitchen garden the team created.
In addition to Weddings, wellness retreats and corporate events for local businesses, during our tenure the team also hosted events for the local community. In particular, we held several ‘BAM’-themed gatherings in the gardens, (Broomhill Arts & Music, Body and Mind) etc. Our first BAM-o’ween was an especially raucous standout family event. The good folks at “Funk Up The Farm” used Broomhill for a charity rave with the theme of “Sexy Sci-Fi.” We were supremely honoured to host the final camp-out for Max Woosey, “The Boy in the Tent” in a music and arts festival we affectionately referred to as ‘Maxfest.’ We were doubly chuffed when Maxfest (and all the great work Max did for the North Devon Hospice) was acknowledged by MP Selaine Saxby and PM Rishi Sunak in PMQs.
In addition to hosting a music festival, another big item on our bucket list was ticked off when Broomhill served as a key set for a movie location. Using Broomhill as a base for the cast and key set locations, the mansion prominently featured in the making of Dracula: Rise of the Vampire.
Regrettably, as the world turned after the pandemic, the economics of running Broomhill were against us and we needed to pass the torch. Let’s say 50% of the reason was due to 40-year inflation and the headwinds facing the hospitality sector in general, and 50% of the reason was specific to our situation in particular. We’re grateful for the friendships and connections we made during our tenure at Broomhill, in support of the local community and the arts. We’re appreciative of all the patronage we received and any and all support that allows us to continue our mission. Refer to the menu item ‘Our Legacy’ above for more specific details on our experiences with Broomhill.
