Upgrades and improvements to existing Landmarks

Keep up to date with the major works currently taking place up and down the country to repair and upgrade favourite Landmarks.

Saddell Castle

Expected reopening: Late summer 2025

Saddell Castle has been one of our most popular Landmarks since opening in 1978. We are now coming to the end of a major year-long repair and improvement project to conserve and maintain this Category A listed building and enhance the guest experience.

The works include external masonry repairs and complete reharling in a gauged hot lime mortar, timber repair and roofing works. We are carefully reconfiguring internal spaces to provide two additional bathrooms and improved kitchen facilities, as well as rearranging bedrooms, upgrading electrics and fully redecorating. We’re also undertaking flood alleviation works in line with Landmark’s sustainability commitments.

Follow the latest updates

Lower Porthmeor

Expected reopening: Late 2025

Our three properties at Lower Porthmeor are currently closed for major repairs and upgrades to enhance their comfort and sustainability. This includes the installation of a ground source heating system to heat The Farmhouse and Captain’s House, and supply hot water to The Farmhouse. Electrical supply upgrades are being made at Lower Porthmeor to enable the installation of this new heating plant. At Arra Venton across the road, there will be a standalone ground source heating and hot water system.

All three properties are being improved and redecorated inside and out, with additional kitchen units, repaired damp patches and better ventilation. The Captain’s House is getting a new ground floor bedroom and shower room, converting it from a four to a six-person Landmark, as well as a new kitchen and dining area with underfloor heating. Arra Venton's renovations will include a new first floor WC.

Tixall Gatehouse

Expected reopening: Summer 2026

Tixall Gatehouse, a striking Elizabethan property where Mary, Queen of Scots was briefly imprisoned in the 1580s, is undergoing a major upgrade. We originally restored the building in the 1970s, and now we're now bringing both upper floors into full use, adding comfort and modern amenities while preserving its historic charm and taking it from a four-plus-two to an eight-person Landmark.

We've installed five deep boreholes for ground source energy and underfloor heating, and are enhancing draughtproofing and insulation throughout. A new kitchen and sitting room will occupy the top floor, previously unheated and used for ping pong. Though fear not, the ping pong table will remain, moved instead to the ground floor. There will also be an increased parking area with EV charging to accommodate the extra guests.

Laughton Place

Expected reopening: 2026

This moated brick tower is all that is left of a much larger house built in 1534 for which the tower served as an outlook post, as well as a set of private rooms. It now stands proudly on the flatlands between the South Downs and Ashdown Forest. Laughton Place is currently closed while we plan major improvement works to upgrade the building's energy efficiency and guest experience. We look forward to welcoming guests again in 2026.