The Beacon, Tunbridge Wells
Development and proposed restoration of Tunbridge Wells Cold Bath
at The Beacon
Wellness centre, with hot and cold baths and yoga studio
Six ensuite hotel rooms and three two-bedroom timber lodges
A planning application for the development and restoration of the Tunbridge Wells Cold Bath is in progress. Pete Cornwell, owner and director of The Beacon, part of the I’ll be Mother hospitality and events group in Tunbridge Wells, Kent is working with local environmental consultants Studio Engleback and Tate Harmer, one of the UK’s leading architects for sustainability and natural environments.
The current planning application is for a low-impact development while respecting the environmental sensitivity of the site. The design works within the existing constraints and topography of the site to create a picturesque garden route, with new function spaces and accommodation carefully integrated into the landscape. The proposal consists of restoration of historic use of the site as a pleasure garden and cold bath by introducing The Cold Bath, which is a wellness centre incorporating a cold bath and a hot bath, The Hide which is half-buried into the landscape housing six accommodation units, and three timber lodges, designed by Wadhurst treehouse design studio, Blue Forest.
The restoration and new development will generate 20 new jobs, while additional training and new hours will be given to many of the current 60 members of staff at The Beacon.
Pete Cornwell from I’ll be Mother comments, “As an early 18th century pleasure garden, including three ponds, one of The Beacon’s surviving features into the 19th century was a spring fed cold bath. This proposed development is an opportunity to re-establish the enchanting and historic character of the site while introducing new hotel accommodation and economic benefit to Tunbridge Wells and Kent.”
The Cold Bath will house a health and wellness centre and spa together with a cold bath and a hot bath to continue the historic tradition of bathing on the site. This is accompanied by a studio which will be used for yoga and classes.
The Hide has six ensuite hotel rooms. Tucked within the sloping landscape and with a green sedum roof, there is minimal visual impact, while keeping the historical vista from Rusthall Common through the site.
The Lodges are located at the lower side of the slope east of the site. Clad in natural timber, shingle roof tiles, timber decking and slightly raised above the ground on silts, the individual lodges, each with two bedrooms, will minimise environmental impact and blend seamlessly into the woodland area.
Despite being set on a steep sided ghyll, typical of the High Weald, most pathways in the site are step-free and accessible for buggies and wheelchairs. The step-free pathway network provides an accessible route to the Cold Bath, The Hide, The Lodges, and the landscape generally. A series of steps through the steep central path provides a short-cut for some guests, but a longer route gives a more compliant approach and buggy access will give an alternative for those guests less able to walk distances. One hotel room in The Hide is also made accessible by its entrance route and its bathroom compliant to accessibility requirements and the correct space specifications in the main bedroom.
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For more information please contact Hannah Blake at The Dining Room on Hannah@thediningroompr.co.uk or 07730 039361
History of The Beacon
The Chalybeate springs were discovered in the area in 1609 and in its heyday, in the Georgian era, Tunbridge Wells was one of the top ten spas in the country. The proposed cold bath at The Beacon will be close to the historic site where the first cold bath in Tunbridge Wells was built in 1708.
Walter Harris, a Lord Mayor of London acquired the land in the 1890s and built The Beacon as a private house designed by the Arts and Crafts architect Robert Edis in 1894. Built on a sandstone outcrop, the house was originally known as Rusthall Towers, set in 17 acres of wooded grounds with three lakes, fringed by rhododendrons. In more recent history, Colonel Sladen, a prominent figure in Tunbridge Wells, who owned The Beacon as a private residence, laid 23 acres of pleasure gardens on top of the original 1708 grounds. Sladen’s ornamental gardens were legendary and hosted many civic events. He stocked the lakes with Loch Leven trout and built an aviary. Close to the Beacon itself, Sladen installed the huge Burmese Bell that his father had brought back from his time in the Diplomatic Service. The bell itself was suspended by cross-beams of Burmese teak and was believed to have come from a Buddhist temple. When he died of pneumonia in 1921, it was bequeathed to the Council and then went to the Calverley Grounds.
Following Sladen’s death, his gardens fell into a period of neglect that was to last many years. Paths became overgrown and impassable; the rhododendrons rambled away unchecked. Sladen’s legacy was fading away, but these wilderness years helped create a haven for wildlife like dragonflies, frogs, badgers and, more recently, populations of bee fly and hoverfly, which are still there today.
After World War Two the house was rented by a Refugee Committee and was home to Jewish refugee children. For some years in the 1960s the house was a small hotel and by the late sixties even had a time as a disco.
The house and garden had been neglected for many years until brought under new ownership in 1990 and was run successfully as a pub and hotel for years until retirement. In 2015, Pete and Viv bought the property and began the hard work of transforming The Beacon into what it is today.