Foxhills Hotel & Country Club sits on a 400-acre estate in Surrey, with 60 hotel bedrooms, over 5,000 members, golf, tennis, leisure, spa and one of the area’s most recognisable country house buildings.

The Manor House had history, but history was not enough.

The building had lost some of its pull. Members often saw it as the hotel part of the estate. A little formal. A little distant. Somewhere you might walk past, but not always walk into.

Foxhills had the building. They had the members. They had the hotel guests. They had the local market.

What they needed was a stronger reason for people to spend time there.

The opportunity was to turn an underused building into a place with purpose, energy and commercial value throughout the day.

The Manor House could have followed the expected country house hotel playbook. A safe British menu. A steak offer. A few deep sofas. A comfortable bar. It would have been acceptable. It may even have worked for a while.

But it would not have changed the role of the building.

Foxhills needed more than a nice restaurant. They needed a reason for members to come in after tennis, for hotel guests to stay on property, for local guests to choose Surrey over London, and for the building to feel alive from morning to evening.

That became the thinking behind the project.

Auden looked at the local market, member behaviour, country house hotel trends and the gaps Foxhills could own. The strongest opportunity was not one idea, but a rhythm. Coffee in the morning. Lunch and wine. Afternoon tea. Cocktails. Dinner worth dressing up for.

The early directions pushed the brief hard. Some ideas felt too bold. They were meant to. Great concepts often start with an idea that makes people stop, question and rethink what is possible.

The final direction kept the ambition, but made it right for Foxhills.

The Manor House became a collection of connected experiences, each with its own role.

The Manor Bar and Lounge
An all-day space for coffee, small plates, countryside-inspired cocktails and wine by the glass, carafe or bottle.

Lomri
A standalone Indian dining experience inspired by the spice ports of India and the depth of regional cooking.

Afternoon Tea
A classic British ritual, rooted back into the Foxhills estate.

Together, they gave The Manor House something it had been missing.

A reason to be used all day.

The strategy was built around time. More reasons to arrive. More reasons to stay. More reasons to return. The Manor House needed to work beyond one meal period, so each part of the offer had a clear role in the day.

Lomri was not treated as a hotel restaurant. It was built as a restaurant in its own right, with regional Indian cooking, spice port inspiration and a stronger point of view than the local market expected.

The Manor Bar and Lounge needed its own pull. The drinks programme brought in the English countryside, from the Dirty Fermented Martini, where guests could choose their own pickle, to the Garden Gimlet, served with a seasonal herb bouquet picked from the estate.

A local artist created tableware inspired by signature experiences around the estate. A small detail with a clear job. It made afternoon tea feel specific to Foxhills, not copied from another country house hotel.

This was not concept work that stopped in a deck. Auden worked through menus, drinks, tableware, glassware, music, rituals, service flow, training and launch detail.

Using our 800-point pre-opening checklist, we helped Foxhills move from idea to opening with the operational detail needed to make the concept work.

In the final three weeks, we delivered hospitality training, food and drink tastings, sequence of service, mock services and team readiness.

Because bold thinking is only useful when it works on the floor.

The Manor House opened with a new reason to exist.

Early bookings were strong, with demand from members and the local community. Lomri received positive early feedback on Google and Tripadvisor. The first month performed ahead of budget.

The bigger result was the shift in how the building was used.

Members had new reasons to spend time there. Hotel guests had a stronger food and beverage experience. Local guests had a new reason to visit Foxhills.

The Manor House was no longer just the historic building on the estate. It had become part of estate life again.

Foxhills did not create another country house hotel restaurant.

They gave The Manor House a future.