Red Carnation sells Summer Lodge in Dorset after 23 years

Red Carnation Hotels has sold Summer Lodge, its Georgian country house hotel in Evershot, Dorset, to Somerset hotelier Kevin Newton, ending the group's first venture outside London after 23 years.

The deal closes a chapter that began in 2003, when Red Carnation bought the five-AA-star property as its first expansion beyond the capital. Summer Lodge sits in 4.5 acres of gardens in the Dorset Downs, with 25 rooms and suites and a three-AA-rosette restaurant. Dorset's dining scene has had a busy year elsewhere too, with chef Marcus Wilcox cooking again at Outbuildings.

Built in 1798 as a dower house for the Melbury Estate, the building later had input from novelist Thomas Hardy, who contributed to the designs of its Drawing Room and Master Suite while working nearby as an architect's assistant. Nigel and Margaret Corbett ran it as a hotel for 27 years before selling to Red Carnation.

Red Carnation's first hotel outside London becomes someone else's first chapter in Dorset.

A 1798 dower house in Dorset

Red Carnation listed Summer Lodge and its sister pub, the Acorn Inn, together in 2024 at a guide price of £5.5m, a package that also included the village post office and a run of cottages used for guest and staff accommodation. The hotel had been on the market for about two and a half years before the sale completed.

Newton previously owned the Swan hotel in Wells, Somerset, for 15 years until its sale in 2022, and now runs the Shrubbery hotel in Ilminster. He also heads Coxley Developments, a historic-building specialist he founded in 1995. "I fell in love with Summer Lodge as soon as I saw it, nestled in the Dorset countryside," Newton said.

Jonathan Raggett, Red Carnation's chief executive, thanked the Summer Lodge team for their service and said the sale lets the group concentrate elsewhere, as consolidation reshapes UK hospitality more broadly, from catering groups like Company of Cooks absorbing rivals to boutique chains refocusing their estates. "We remain firmly committed to our ongoing investment strategy across our other 14 hotels," he said.

Red Carnation's next moves

That strategy points to cities and landmarks rather than villages. Red Carnation has significant developments planned by 2027 at Ashford Castle in County Mayo, Hotel d'Angleterre in Geneva and the Twelve Apostles Hotel & Spa outside Cape Town.

For Newton, the purchase adds a third address to a portfolio built on long ownership rather than quick turnarounds, and he says he plans to spend time with the existing team before changing anything. Dorset keeps its dower house. Red Carnation keeps its cities.