Under English planning law, a "Bed and Breakfast" and a "Guest House" are two totally different classifications - you can run a B&B from the place at which you live with no special permissions even if it's in a residential area, but a Guest House or Hotel is described as a business and the property needs to be classified as such.

You may have read about our "Well House Manor" project - to provide accommodation for delegates on our course in Melksham ourselves in the future, and you may have noticed that I've been slightly quiet (especially for me) on the subject. That's because we've been going through planning hoops and the final go-ahead has been dependent on us getting change of use to "C1" approved. Although we'll be making very little change in practise to the traffic levels / curtilage at "The Old Manor", there were elements of doubt in whether the planning would be accepted. It started with the "history" of planning applications on the site, where the previous owner had been looking to sell to a property developer and have one house knocked down and replaced by 22; as you can imagine, the neighbours had been up in arms and view any new application with a pinch of salt and look at it with a fine toothcomb. Add in the access issue, where the current turning onto the B road outside is blind and can be fixed well (but not perfect to 2.4 x 90m specification for new build), and 8 neighbours with various bones to pick on subjects like trees, and wanting to buy some of the garden themselves, and you'll see that the whole thing wasn't quite a rubber stamping exercise.

Anyway - it's all "GO!" now. Full approval for C1 use, which is described as a "Hotel or Guest House"; a couple of caveats but none that will hold back what we'll be doing. Lisa has been doing a fantastic job already and there's plans, drawings, budgets, finances, professionals all coming together for our takeover at the end of May. We'll then be doing something of a "refurb" - after all, the building was scheduled for demolition if the 22 houses had gone ahead so the decor has become a little timed and some worn components haven't been replaced. And we'll be opening in the Autumn. Very exciting!

Link - Interim information
Link - Ground and usage plans
Link - Places to stay until we open
Link - The embryonic "official" Well House Manor site
(written 2006-04-03, updated 2006-06-05)

 G600 - Well House Consultants - Well House Manor
  [525] Vision AND venture - (2005-12-12)
  [550] 2006 - Making business a pleasure - (2006-01-01)
  [555] Hotel novelties - (2006-01-05)
  [558] Converting between acres and hectares - (2006-01-08)
  [571] Well House Manor - (2006-01-21)
  [575] Eating for the single business traveller - (2006-01-24)
  [582] DWIM and AWWO - (2006-01-30)
  [594] Twice is a co-incidence and three times is a pattern - (2006-02-07)
  [598] Should we cruise around the world? - (2006-02-09)
  [615] Looking for leading not bleeding edge - (2006-02-21)
  [617] Easy, Free, Reliable internet access - (2006-02-22)
  [643] If it's Sunday, it must be Bedwyn - (2006-03-12)
  [884] Drive time - (2006-10-02)
  [891] Well House Manor Hotel, Melksham, Wiltshire - (2006-10-10)
  [902] Brand new hotel and training centre, Melksham - (2006-10-22)
  [933] Course Joining package - updated - (2006-11-20)
  [963] George Hotel and Well House Manor, Melksham - (2006-12-04)
  [1059] Three sets of twins - (2007-01-31)
  [1072] Well House Manor in the Snow - (2007-02-09)
  [1211] A lot has happened in a year - (2007-05-31)
  [1332] Melksham Hotel - Five Star Kitchen! - (2007-09-04)
  [1388] Well House Manor - a year on - (2007-10-12)
  [1520] Terms and Conditions - Hotel, England - plain English - (2008-01-26)
  [1706] The Story of Well House Manor - (2008-07-12)
  [2565] Bright day, snowy day - (2010-01-06)
  [2962] Well House Manor - the history of the hotel - (2010-09-20)
  [3405] Where do businessmen stay in Melksham? - (2011-08-25)
  [3549] Well House Manor - perhaps the best hotel rooms in Melksham - (2011-12-10)
  [3702] Digital Champions think that Well House Manor is a champion venue! - (2012-04-20)
  [3800] Fancy a weekend away? Try Well House Manor in Melksham, Wiltshire - (2012-07-09)
  [3814] Returning guests - a sign of a good product. Cream teas and hotel rooms. - (2012-07-22)
  [3970] Comparing four VERY different places to stay - (2013-01-11)
  [4101] POETS day at Well House Manor - (2013-05-24)
  [4715] Well House Manor - Still five out of five! - (2016-10-30)

G103 - Well House Consultants - Where to stay in Melksham
  [319] Accommodation and landing pages - (2005-05-21)
  [475] Where to stay in and near Melksham - (2005-10-24)
  [512] Exciting futures - the Well House Manor project - (2005-11-30)
  [1436] A little touring help during a business trip to England - (2007-11-18)
  [1929] 2009 - Hotel, Meeting, Training Course prices - (2008-12-07)
  [2581] Snow scenes - and how snow effected our business - (2010-01-16)
  [2705] Hotel booking in Melksham made easy! - (2010-04-03)
  [3865] What makes Well House Manor different? - (2012-09-18)
  [4299] The Best Bed and Breakfast in Melksham? - (2014-09-19)
  [4447] Overnight accommodation in Melksham - if Well House Manor is full! - (2015-03-02)
  [4506] Peak weekend - where there are still rooms near Melksham - (2015-06-06)
  [4570] A warm welcome awaits you at Well House Manor, Melksham - (2015-11-02)

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