Champneys
| Champneys | |
| Hertfordshire | |
|---|---|
 Champneys | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SP94160898 |
| Location: | 51°46’18"N, 0°38’12"W |
| History | |
| Built 1874 | |
| For: | Rev. Arthur Sutton Valpy |
| Country house | |
| French Second Empire | |
| Information | |
Champneys is a country house and its associated estate near Tring, in the west of Hertfordshire. The mansion is today run as a destination spa by a business using "Champneys" as the brand name for a group of spa resorts and day spas.
History
The earliest record of an estate associated with the Champneys name is in 1307. It appears in the Tring manor court rolls for 1514. It was owned by successive landowning families in the Wigginton, Hertfordshire and surrounding area between the 14th and 19th centuries, although for a short period around 1535 it is recorded as owned by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury.
The grounds and original house was inherited in 1871 by the Rev. Arthur Sutton Valpy. He replaced the original building with the current French Second Empire styled house built in 1874 which stood in extensive grounds.[1] In 1900 Champneys was sold to Lady Rothschild.[2][3]
In 1925, Stanley Lief (1890–1962), a pioneer in the field of naturopathy, bought Champneys, converting it into a Nature Cure resort which he ran from the 1930s for about 20 years.[4] Champneys at Tring continued as a health resort with varying degrees of success, latterly under the ownership of a Middle Eastern consortium, until it was bought by Stephen Purdew in 2002.[5] The house with associated buildings is set in landscaped grounds of around 200 acres.
The business group
'Champney' is the brand name of a destination spa group, comprising four spa resorts and six day spas owned by the Purdew family. The first spa in the group was Henlow Grange.[6]
The Champneys Charitable Foundation was registered in 2006 to raise money for various causes.[7]
In July 2011, Sir Paul Stephenson, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, resigned over a stay at Champneys Tring, part of which had been a gift from Stephen Purdew,[8] and in an interview in The Guardian in August the same year, Purdew explained that certain clients receive discounts on the basis of their celebrity status or if they are journalists or hold high-ranking positions in public office: "These rugby players are paying but they're coming on a concession rate because it's just making the place buzz. We do that with actors and journalists and dignitaries. It makes Champneys 'The Place'."[9]
In 2012, Champneys Tring teamed up with controversial doctor Professor Mohamed Taranissi to offer IVF treatments at the spa.[10]
Champneys International College of Health & Beauty, in the grounds of the Tring resort in Hertfordshire, was founded in 1976 and offers both full-time and part-time courses.
Outside links
References
- ↑ Rothschild-shire: the wider fate of UK country houses mirrored in a family (1/3), accessed 18 January 2015
- ↑ British History on Line -Wigginton, Hertfordshire, Accessed 18 January 2015
- ↑ Hertfordshire Genealogy Champneys, Accessed 18 January 2015
- ↑ Naturopathy in the UK: The General Council and Register of Naturopaths
- ↑ "Stephen Purdew". Start-ups. http://startups.co.uk/champneys-stephen-purdew/. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
- ↑ Purdew, Dorothy (2011). The Long Road to Champneys. Infinite Ideas Ltd. ISBN 190682150X.
- ↑ Champneys Charitable Foundation - Registered Charity no. 1114429 at the Charity Commission
- ↑ Champneys: the spa that helped secure Sir Paul Stephenson's fate Publisher The Guardian 18 July 2011, Accessed 18 January 2015
- ↑ The networker who made Champneys' name The Guardian Published 11 August 2012, Accessed 18 January 2015
- ↑ Controversial IVF doctor offers fertility scans at luxury spa Daily May published: 28 July 2012, Accessed 18 January 2015
