Ashdown Park Hotel

About the venue

A Victorian mansion and former convent in the Ashdown Forest near Forest Row, with 106 bedrooms, an 18-hole golf course, a spa and 186 acres of grounds. Its old chapel, lit by Harry Clarke stained glass, is now the main wedding and banqueting suite, for up to 150 day and 200 evening guests.

In the windows of Ashdown Park's old chapel, the Dublin artist Harry Clarke used 35 shades of blue. The chapel was built for nuns of the Order of Notre Dame and consecrated in 1927. Today it is the Richard Towneley Suite, where the hotel holds weddings and banquets.

The house at the centre of the hotel dates from 1867. It was built by Thomas Charles Thompson, MP for Durham, who left a black suit to each of his employees so they would look smart at his funeral. The Sisters of Notre Dame bought the estate in 1919 and added both wings and the church over the next two decades.

The estate covers 186 acres of the Ashdown Forest, which A. A. Milne said inspired the Winnie the Pooh stories. 2026 marks a hundred years since the first book, and the hotel is running Pooh-themed afternoon teas, stays and evenings through the year.

The hotel has 106 bedrooms and suites. Some overlook the lake and parkland, where deer graze, and the Fairway rooms face the 18-hole golf course.

Guests eat in the Anderida Restaurant, which holds 2 AA Rosettes, or in the newer Forest Brasserie. The Country Club adds a spa, a pool and a driving range. Tennis courts, a croquet lawn and a snooker room with two tables are free to hotel guests.

Weddings, birthdays and company events use a set of rooms including the Jacob Henniker Room and the John Hayward Suite. There are around 200 free parking spaces, and Gatwick is about 30 minutes away.

19th-century mansion and former convent in the Ashdown Forest

Converted chapel with Harry Clarke stained glass

Weddings for up to 150 day and 200 evening guests

106 bedrooms and suites

2 AA Rosette Anderida Restaurant

18-hole golf course, spa and pool

186-acre estate with lakes and resident deer

About 50 minutes from London, 30 from Gatwick