We’re delighted to be celebrating our 2nd birthday at Marrington Escapes. We sat down with our Property Manager, Philippa Bason, to reflect on some of her favourite moments and insights from the past two years of endeavour.
Since launching in 2021, we’ve now got seven properties at Marrington Escapes. What was your favourite property to develop?
I’ve had a lot of fun overseeing the transformation of each property, but my favourite has to be Marrington Mill. It was the first one that we renovated, and we transformed and redesigned the original three-bedroom property into the five bedrooms it is now.
I was continually inspired by the riverside, surrounding nature and rich history that Marrington Mill holds and tried to channel this into the renovation processes and décor.
Marrington Mill certainly has a distinct charm to it. If you had to choose just one of our properties to live in, which would it be and why?
That’s a very difficult question as they are all beautiful and unique. I’m torn between Camlad Barn and Marrington Farmhouse. I love absolutely everything about Camlad Barn; it’s location, views and atmosphere but Marrington Farmhouse holds a special place in my heart.
The flow and layout of Marrington Farmhouse just works for me – the size of the rooms also mean that it’s perfect for family gatherings and celebrations. It has a unique character that makes a stay there so special.
In the last two years, we’ve seen a lot of development and investment into Marrington Escapes. What has been your most valuable lesson since we launched?
I’m fortunate to have gained a wealth of experience during my career, but I’m always learning new things. The most valuable lesson I have learnt is adapting our approach to development to suit our guest’s feedback and comments, which lends itself to the importance of ground floor bedrooms.
As a team, I’m proud of everything that we have achieved so far and I honestly wouldn’t change anything we’ve done. We placed so much care and consideration into each decision prior to launching which is testament to our success so far.
The team have done a fantastic job since launching, and you have a great relationship with each of them. What has been the funniest moment with them?
We’ve had lots of funny moments at Marrington, and the team are always up for a laugh. One time, we joked that the renovation team had knocked down the wrong wall on a project. The look of horror spreading across their face was priceless – although we soon assured them that we were joking!
If only someone had filmed that! Finally, we’ve come a long way since we launched. What are you most looking forward to in the future?
We’ve got lots of exciting plans for the future, which are just starting to come into fruition. I’m looking forward to continuing to open up more of the Estate that has proved to be really popular with our guests. It’s a lovely feeling to be able to provide places for people to make new memories and to read all of the positive reviews from guests.