Scalford Hall, on the outskirts of Scalford village near Melton Mowbray, was an Edwardian mansion house. In the 1940s it was the home of Colonel Colman, of the Colman's mustard company. The Colonel was a friend of the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, and throughout their much publicised courtship, Edward and American divorcee Wallis Simpson regularly stayed at Scalford Hall. Colonel Colman died in the hunting field as he might have wished but his late wife is still remembered by older people in the village.
More recently the house had been converted for use as an 88-room hotel and wedding venue. This venture came to an abrupt end in 2018 when the business went into liquidation. There are numerous news articles about ruined weddings caused by the closure of the hotel, including wedding receptions that had to be cancelled at last minute, and one where the chef walked out half way through cooking the wedding guest's evening meal.
Our Visit
This is a typical place that @SpiderMonkey and I find! When we visited, the hotel was clearly not in use, however it most certainly wasn't abandoned... We visited in the evening and easily found a way in, had a quick look around and decided to return the next afternoon to take some photos. Upon approaching the next day, we could smell smoke in the air, but thought nothing of it until we entered the building again and realised the fireplaces had been in use that day, and some embers were still burning. We cautiously looked around and found nobody inside, but discovered a table with biscuits, tea & coffee facilities and an urn of still-hot water. On the same table were job application forms, so we made the assumption a job fair of some kind had been held there that day. We had a cuppa and cracked on!
Phone shot while we made our way in, finding a giant chess set
Thanks for the tea and bickies!
These fireplaces still had glowing embers!
Entrance hall
Dining room
One of the more expensive suits
One of the standard rooms
The function room is a huge marquee in the back garden
More recently the house had been converted for use as an 88-room hotel and wedding venue. This venture came to an abrupt end in 2018 when the business went into liquidation. There are numerous news articles about ruined weddings caused by the closure of the hotel, including wedding receptions that had to be cancelled at last minute, and one where the chef walked out half way through cooking the wedding guest's evening meal.
Our Visit
This is a typical place that @SpiderMonkey and I find! When we visited, the hotel was clearly not in use, however it most certainly wasn't abandoned... We visited in the evening and easily found a way in, had a quick look around and decided to return the next afternoon to take some photos. Upon approaching the next day, we could smell smoke in the air, but thought nothing of it until we entered the building again and realised the fireplaces had been in use that day, and some embers were still burning. We cautiously looked around and found nobody inside, but discovered a table with biscuits, tea & coffee facilities and an urn of still-hot water. On the same table were job application forms, so we made the assumption a job fair of some kind had been held there that day. We had a cuppa and cracked on!
Phone shot while we made our way in, finding a giant chess set
Thanks for the tea and bickies!
These fireplaces still had glowing embers!
Entrance hall
Dining room
One of the more expensive suits
One of the standard rooms
The function room is a huge marquee in the back garden
