A NEW restaurant next to a courtyard at a historic country house near Droitwich is now open to the public.

The Courtyard Kitchen is a pavilion restaurant open at the National Trust's Hanbury Hall in School Road, Hanbury, near Droitwich. 

Malvern Gazette: DRAMATIC: The interior of the Courtyard Kitchen at Hanbury Hall in Droitwich DRAMATIC: The interior of the Courtyard Kitchen at Hanbury Hall in Droitwich (Image: Greg Holmes)

The work has been completed by Howells and lies next to the National Trust’s 18th-century house.

The Courtyard Kitchen, which serves a range of hot meals, cakes, and hot and cold drinks, the restaurant has 'charming views into the Parterre garden'.

Malvern Gazette: ADDITION: Hanbury Hall's Courtyard Kitchen, a new addition to the National Trust property ADDITION: Hanbury Hall's Courtyard Kitchen, a new addition to the National Trust property (Image: Greg Holmes for Howells)

 The restaurant can be reached from the Stableyard through the reinstated historic archway.

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It is described as being fully accessible and provides more generous facilities as a response to the growing number of visitors to the Grade I-listed, William and Mary-style stately home and its 20 acres of landscaped gardens and 400 acres of parkland.

A spokesperson for Howells said: "The new structure connects to Hanbury Hall with a subtle glazed link, reanimating the historic courtyard and improving level access within the site, while revealing never seen before areas of the Hall such as the service bells."

Howells designed a coordinated palette of painted wainscotting, exposed timber ceiling beams, fine timber battening and light-reflecting glazed wall tiles extending across the new spaces, which connect to the main house.

The restaurant also benefits from renewable energy in the form of two new biomass boilers recently installed on site to power the underfloor heating and hot water.

The project saw intense collaboration between Howells, heritage experts Donald Insall Associates, National Trust, Historic England, Croft Building & Conservation Ltd, and the local planning authority to ensure the architectural integrity of the historic estate including foundations

Sandeep Shambi, Partner at Howells, says: “We are very proud of this new restaurant pavilion at Hanbury Hall with its sustainable credentials, contemporary design and its abundance of form and materiality, it carefully bridges the old and the new.

"The design was a result of close dialogue with client National Trust and our heritage partners, and we hope it will enrich the experience of all the Hall’s visitors into long and successful future.”