Historic Cumbrian castle up for grabs for £2.5m

AUGILL Castle, an iconic Victorian country house hotel in Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria, is being offered for sale for £2.5m.

The castle, built in 1841, has been brought to the market by the hotels team at real estate advisers Colliers International in Manchester.

The Victorian gentleman’s country residence is set in 12 acres of private grounds in the upper Eden Valley between the Lake District National Park and the Yorkshire Dales with the backdrop of the North Pennines.

The castle operates as a country house hotel and wedding venue with 15 letting bedrooms including eight in the castle with individual styling such as four poster beds and turrets as wardrobes, a further seven in external cottage suites or estate houses and a five-bed owner’s cottage in its own private gardens.

Augill features towers, turrets, mullioned windows and leaded lights, a grand hall with Jacobean oak panelled walls, a drawing room and dining room with ornate fireplaces and wood burner stoves, a conservatory bar and small cinema.

It attracts an international clientele from the corporate and private sectors and has enjoyed a steady rise in turnover and profits for the past four years.

Among the business’s accolades is the Enjoy England Award for Excellence Gold Award and a ranking in The Sunday Times’ 100 Ultimate British Hotels list for two years, one of only 37 hotels to do so.

Augill has been owned and operated for almost 20 years by former Mayfair restaurateurs Simon and Wendy Bennett. The couple invested in a major refurbishment programme but now plan to ‘step back’ from the operation and offer a new owner the chance to ‘take the business to the next level’.

Simon said: “It would be easy to think that turning a near derelict castle into a successful hotel is achievement enough in a lifetime but we are keen for a new challenge now.

“There is still huge potential here but it is time for someone else to take Augill to the next level. A spa perhaps, or a purpose-built meeting or function space. There’s potential for so much.”