Leisure and Tourism

Terence O’Rourke has a long-standing relationship with Chewton Glen, a luxury country house hotel on the edge of the New Forest. Utilising our planning, architecture and landscape architecture services, the brief was to provide an opportunity for the hotel to diversify and appeal to a wider audience.

The Kitchen is a purpose-built space for enjoying and learning about food and cooking. Endorsed by celebrity chef James Martin, it provides a 12-place cookery school where budding chefs can take part in a range of day courses and an informal open-plan dining space that allows diners to watch chefs at work in both the professional kitchen and cookery school.

Despite being within the green belt, Terence O’Rourke were able to demonstrate that the special circumstances of the hotel’s reputation, contribution it makes to the local economy and its active support in training and inspiring local students, outweighed any negative impact to gain planning permission.

The brick and timber barn-like structure combines traditional forms with contemporary detailing, helping the building to integrate into its rural surroundings. The internal spaces flow seamlessly outside so that the landscape is a continuation of the interior, where produce is grown for use within the kitchens inside. Our graphics team took references from the growing herbs and animal sculptures within the landscaping, developing a series of illustrations that were used throughout the internal detailing and branding. It is the little touches like this that help to personalise the building and make it a unique space for enjoying and learning about food.