Lottery Win Celebrated

There was an air of excitement in the hotel this morning as a cheque for over £1.1million was delivered by courier to reception and champagne was put on ice in the restaurant.

This was all destined for hotels library where Robert Hutchinson and his wife Carol were about to have their life changed for ever……following the impressive win on the National Lottery (draw Sat 11^th June 2011).

The couple, from Seaford, met with Camelot staff in the Reading Room, prior to heading to the press conference being held in the library.

Mr Hutchison told the press he was planning to retire at Christmas but handed in his notice when he discovered his millionaire status having played the game online. Mrs Hutchinson, who is already retired, received an e-mail on Sunday with news about the win. "I was in the garden sorting out my pond when Carol called me in," said Mr Hutchison. "We both expected it to be a tenner and when I logged in a big congratulations popped up. Neither of us could believe it, it was pretty surreal I guess."

The couple already had a holiday booked to Cornwall. They planned to take the 3 hour ferry trip to the Scilly Isle but will now upgrade and make the journey by helicopter! They also plan to buy a new car, a holiday to Italy and a new bathroom, as well as helping out their four children and eight grandchildren but firstly a new pump for their garden fish pond!

To finish off the press conference, Mr & Mrs Hutchinson headed into the hotel garden to pose for photographs and toast their win with the traditional “spraying of the champers”!

Pelham House is proud to have hosted the winning press conference and wish Mr & Mrs Hutchinson all the best for their, now much rosier, future.

Hotel taken over by Paul and Emma......

.....but just for their wedding!

Sunday 12th June 2011 saw the hotel taken over! Paul and Emma chose Pelham House as their wedding venue, who liked it that much they had it all!

One of the hotels top wedding packages is a totally Exclusive Use option where the entire hotel is made available solely for the Bride & Groom and their guests, and Paul and Emma took full advantage of this.

The Terrace Room was used for 60 guests to watch the happy couple take their vows before then being transformed into a dining room for the wedding breakfast. Tables were decorated with rustic flower decorations, personalised candy rock as name places, and chairs adorned with white satin sashes that had been stamped with the couples initials.

To keep the children entertained and happy "Punch and Judy" performed in the hotel atrium prior to the meal, where there were goodie bags waiting for them at their own special table with sweets and colouring pencils etc.

Both the hotel restaurant rooms were converted into chill-out areas with informal seating so guests always had somewhere to sit and enjoy their drink and conversation as, after the 100 plus evening guests had arrived, the hotel was certainly a bustle of bodies all enjoying themselves.

A live band performed during the evening in The Chamber Room, which had been decorated with similar flower arrangements and some 20 massive 4ft wide helium balloons in bright red, blue and white colours.

A hog roasting company had been arranged by Paul and Emma to come along and roast a whole pig to accompany the main evening buffet prepared by the hotel's chefs. Unfortunately due to the rain guests didn't venture outside into the garden to take in the mouth-watering aroma produced by the hogroast.

Once the band had completed their performance, a personal friend of the happy couple jumped onto his "decks" and mixed a variety of club tunes for all to dance away to. Midnight arrived and for those guests not staying overnight in the hotel it was time to say their goodbyes.

Resident guests then retired to the front restaurant bar and continued their party into the very small hours of Monday morning.

I'm sure everyone had a wonderful time helping Paul and Emma celebrate their marriage and we all wish them many happy years together.

If you're interested in getting married at Pelham House then the hotel offers a vast arrange to packages to suit your needs, whether like Paul and Emma you'd like to take the whole hotel, or if a more intimate occasion is for you with just close friends and family then one of our restaurant rooms or the library can be hired for a private dining occasion. For more information or to arrange a visit to the hotel please contact either Abi or Steve in our sales department on 01273 488600 or email sales@pelhamhouse.com

Pelham House - The History.....

Pelham House began its story back in the 16th Century when a man named George Goring bought a plot of land with a vision to build a lavish stone mansion decorated to the highest standard of the time. This included magnificent wooden caryatids and panelling. The panelling remains to this day and can be seen in one of the hotel’s restaurant rooms.

The property remained in the Goring family for nearly 100 years before they sold it to Peter Courthorpe. Peter only owned and lived in the house, and its land, for a comparatively short while before dividing the estate it into separate lots and selling them off individually.

One of these lots, the main house, was bought by the Pelham family, who gave the building their family name and “Pelham House” was born. The family began the process of buying back the land and other property thus restoring the estate. In 1725 Thomas Pelham set about a major refurbishment of the house to “bring it up to date” for the period.

The Pelham family sold the property in 1806 having lived here for 150 years. Over the next 197 years Pelham House was owned by a variety of people, including the East Sussex County Council, who used it as the administrative headquarters for more than 75 years.

In 2004, Pelham House was purchased jointly by a group of four local families and was converted into the beautiful hotel as you see today. A sympathetic conversion was undertaken to create the 31 romantic Boutique hotel style bedrooms, each of which was individually designed for maximum comfort but ensuring that many original historic features of the building were preserved.

All the bedrooms are fitted with contemporary handmade oak furniture, remote controlled TVs, phones and high speed data points and have en-suite baths or luxury showers. Most of them overlook the pretty south facing garden, with views beyond to the South Downs, which have just been declared a National Park and area of outstanding natural beauty.