Lymington Seafood Festival is delighted to welcome Chewton Glen as sponsor of the Lymington Seafood Festival Chef’s Stage. This summer, Chewton Glen Hotel is also set to unveil refurbished dining spaces as part of an ‘F&B reset’ that will allow the property to better compete with the wave of new luxury hotels.

Led by Goddard Littlefair, the project at the five-star hotel, which is part of Iconic Luxury Hotels, will see the restaurant, bar and drawing rooms given a refresh and new menus introduced. The design will lean on colours such as forest greens and amber hues, and a bar featuring vintage claret and oak. The work has been ongoing in phases with the aim for the spaces to all be completed by the end of June.

Speaking to Boutique Hotelier, executive director, Andrew Stembridge said the redesign has enabled the property to ‘completely reset what we do in the dining room’.

“We’re refurbishing almost the whole ground floor which is a big footprint, including the main dining room,” he explains. “We will obviously be doing a new menu in the restaurant and we are going to turn the lounges into an F&B outlet in its own right, with a counter area.”

Following the unveiling of the new space, Q3 will signal the start of a handful of bedroom refurbishments as part of a larger repositioning exercise for the hotel.

“Every year we refresh something at Chewton,” says Stembridge, “so we’re not doing all the bedrooms but we are doing the next wave; at least a dozen bedrooms in the autumn and then carry on from there.”

Stembridge adds that ‘now is the time to catch up a little bit’ with the influx of increased competition in recent years, including the likes of The Newt, Heckfield Place and Estelle Manor all vying for a similar customer.

“There’s a lot of new product out there and a lot of strong competition, but that’s good. At that price point, people’s expectations are high but I think we really have the benefit of that loyal following, so we’ve always got that really strong base of business. Now it’s a stronger fight on for the new, younger business as well, but it’s a really exciting time.”

Chewton Glen is situated on the edge of the New Forest and is surrounded by 130 acres of woodlands, parkland and gardens. It is home to a luxury spa, nine-hole golf course, indoor and outdoor tennis courts, croquet lawn, treehouse suites and The Kitchen, a cookery school and event space overseen by TV chef James Martin.

The hotel is part of the Iconic Luxury Hotels portfolio, which also includes Cliveden House in Berkshire, The Lygon Arms in the Cotswolds, Mayfair Townhouse and 11 Cadogan Gardens in the capital and the recently opened Palm House in Palm Beach, Florida.

You can catch Exectutive Head Chef Luke Matthews at Lymington Seafood Festival on Saturday 12th July at cooking up a storm with seabass, scallops and a trout panzanella salad.