Geograph - photograph every grid square

William Henry Smith (of the bookshop company W. H. Smith) purchased 5000 acres of land from the Earl of Devon in 1890. He later became Viscount Hambledon. His son built the house as one of the family's numerous country retreats. During the First World War it was used as a convalescent home for officers. During the 1920s the family rarely visited it and in 1930 it became a Great Western Railway golfing hotel. During the Second World War it became a military hospital, but reverted to becoming a hotel and has changed hands several times since. Further information is available on the hotel web site Link