STUDLEY Castle Hotel has officially opened its doors for business after three years of hard work and a whopping budget of £50m.

Lovingly restored by short-break specialists Warner Leisure Hotels the hotel has undergone a three-year renovation in order to restore Studley Castle back to its former glory to sit alongside a contemporary new hotel wing and spa located in the original stables block.

The Grade II listed property was originally designed by the famous London theatre architect Samuel Beazley, and has had a diverse list of owners, from Lady Warwick who turned it into an agricultural college for women, giving them equal opportunities to men within agriculture, to the Government, which used it to train the Women’s Land Army during both World Wars.

As well as the gothic building and stonework, Warner worked with ecological consultants to safely move a family of bats to a new home, and created a protected area for Great Crested Newts which also reside within the grounds of Studley Castle, making it an interesting conservation project in its own right.

Simon Thomson, from Warner Leisure Hotels, said: “Studley Castle is a shining example of listening intently to existing and new guest feedback and giving them exactly what they wanted, without compromising on quality.

“It’s been an exciting three years of renovations in order to do the building and the original architect justice, and we firmly believe this hotel can now set the benchmark for short breaks in the UK.”

To signal the start of the new era a special celebration weekend was recently held which saw sets from DJ Jo Whiley and a celebration of British music with appearances from some of the country’s most exciting emerging talent.