Chicheley Hall sold for £7m to Pyrrho Investments

Chicheley Hall in Buckinghamshire has been sold to Pyrrho Investments off a guide price of £7m with plans to develop the business to become the leading wedding venue and country house hotel in the area.

Knight Frank completed the sale of the 18th century, 48-bedroom mansion on behalf of the Royal Society, with Countrywide Hotels appointed to manage the hotel.

The Grade I-listed mansion's private estate includes 75 acres of landscaped gardens, woodland, farmland and parkland. Built between 1720 and 1724, two Grade II-listed former stable blocks connected to the main hall contain most of the ensuite bedrooms. The former coach house has been converted to a conference centre and has two lecture halls, a meeting room as well as ancillary facilities.

Paul Cummins, a director of the recently set up Chicheley Hotel limited company and investment director at Pyrrho Investments, said: "We are very excited to add Chicheley Hall to our portfolio of hotels, in particular it is a great sister property to Broome Park, our hotel and wedding venue near Canterbury. We have appointed Countrywide Hotels to manage the hotel and intend to develop the business as the leading wedding venue and country house hotel in the area."

Henry Jackson, head of hotel agency at Knight Frank, said: "We are thrilled to have completed the sale of the historic and iconic Chicheley Hall, with both buyer and seller pleased with a successful outcome. There is a very limited supply of quality hotel opportunities in the market at present and the substantial interest we received in Chicheley Hall demonstrates this. We received multiple bids from both new entrants, existing UK hoteliers, and overseas buyers which enabled us to manage the sales process to a successful completion."

Pyrrho Investments is a family investment fund owned by a Hong Kong-based property investment and development family. It was co-founded by Cummins and Anson Chan.