Champneys
Champneys /ˈtʃæmpniz/ is an English country house and its associated estate near Tring, Hertfordshire. The mansion is 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.[1]
The grounds and original house was inherited in 1871 by the Rev. Arthur Sutton Valpy. He replaced the original building by the current French Second Empire styled house built in 1874 which stood in extensive grounds.[2] In 1900 Champneys was sold to Lady Rothschild;[3][4] the family had owned nearby Tring Park Mansion since 1872.[5]
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.[6] 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.[7] The house with associated buildings is set in landscaped grounds of around 200 acres (0.81 km2).[8]
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.[9]
In 2004, £150,000 was raised for Breast Cancer Care, Tommy's Charity and the Disability Foundation were supported in 2006, raising a combined sum of £100,000. The Champneys Charitable Foundation was registered with the Charity Commission on 31 May 2006.[10]
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,[11] 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'."[12]
Television
In 2014, Champneys Tring was the subject of an ITV documentary by Richard Macer.[13]
References
- "Champneys Estate, Tring, Hertfordshire". Rothschild family papers. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
- 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
- "Tring Park estate, Hertfordshire". Rothschild family papers. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
- see Naturopathy in the UK on the website of The General Council and Register of Naturopaths, http://www.naturopathy.org.uk/history.asp
- "Stephen Purdew". Start-ups. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
- "Champneys moves to high street". The Times. 17 September 2006. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
- Purdew, Dorothy (2011). The Long Road to Champneys. Infinite Ideas Ltd. ISBN 190682150X.
- 1114429 - CHAMPNEYS CHARITABLE FOUNDATION Charity framework Publisher Charity Commission, Accessed 26 September 2018
- 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
- Raeside, Julia (11 July 2014). "Champneys; Black Market Britain: Undercover Sting – TV review". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
