Following a careful restoration, Boys Hall will open its doors this summer in Ashford, Kent. Set amid three acres of gardens, the family-owned Jacobean manor has been transformed into a boutique country bolthole.

Inside, the property will comprise of 10 en-suite guestrooms, multiple reception areas and private dining spaces, a 70 cover oak-beamed restaurant with two outside terraces, and its very own wood-clad pub.

Known as Boys Hall Jacobean Manor, the charming mansion house was originally built in 1616. Now Grade II listed, it has been sensitively refurbished under the watchful eye of husband and wife team, Bradley and Kristie Lomas. Bradley was the former Operations Director of East London Pub Co, while Kristie is the founder of Drink, Shop & Do as well as Keystone Crescent members’ club in London’s King’s Cross. The couple departed the capital back in 2019 and on finding the hall, a mere 35-minute train journey from London, set about using their combined experience to create the “getaway destination of their dreams.”

Amongst the 10 guest accommodations are five grand suites with super-king beds, spacious bathrooms and features including roll top tubs, window seats overlooking the estate, and original fourposter beds. A further three rooms will have en-suites, some with tubs, and two cosier rooms featuring en-suite showers.

The restaurant meanwhile will be housed in a capacious dining hall, newly constructed with local oak that was cut and shaped to size on site with a local carpenter. The menu will be centred around seasonal produce from the ‘Garden of England’, with daily changing dishes elevating home-cooked favourites. Those looking for a pint of local ale can head to the inviting pub, which features original wood cladding and is open to the public, while for a more premium offer, a wine cellar sits beneath the house with capacity for around 4,000 bottles and will boast speciality vintages from English wineries as well as producers from around the world.

Heading outside, the landscaped grounds have become a passion project for Kristie and will include a rose garden, herbaceous border, a formal front lawn – featuring garden games in the summer months – bee hives producing the hall’s own honey, an orchard and a kitchen garden growing herbs and flowers for the restaurant and bar. Plans are afoot to extend the F&B offer with a bar and outdoor pizza oven enclosed in a walled garden, while treatment rooms and eight luxury cabins around a wild pond are also in the pipeline.

Boys Hall will also curate a selection of experiences including local wine tours, pampering journeys in their garden huts, cookery courses and foraging walks. The Lomas’s hope that the revived property will feel like a home away from home and wish to make the guest experience as relaxing and bespoke as they wish it to be.

“We have loved every minute of restoring this period property and cannot wait to see life back into the venue; we want people to relax and enjoy themselves, whether with a cup of tea in the reception rooms or a gin and tonic out on the lawns,” say Kristie and Brad. “Being in the heart of Kent, we are very lucky to have some incredible producers and suppliers work with us. It’s been such a privilege to combine our background and love of home comforts and become a part of the rich history of this house and its evolving gardens. We want guests to feel at home and for everyone who stays in the first year, a tree will be planted in the estate.”