KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY AT HOTEL

Last updated 11:44, Saturday, 02 August 2008

A CUMBRIAN hotelier has sealed a £1.5m deal to buy a landmark Cumbrian hotel – from his parents.

Winners: Left to right. Michael, Ronnie, Marjorie and Angela Dunbobbin with the tourism award they won this year

Mike Dunbobbin and wife Angela have acquired the venue after helping Mike’s mum and dad Marjorie and Ronnie run it for the last eight years. They have now retired.

The deal was funded by Carlisle’s Royal Bank of Scotland.

The Dunbobbins bought Appleby Manor in 2000 and set about transforming it.

That culminated in four-star status for the venue in October 2007.

This year it scooped first prize in the Small Hotel of the Year category of the 2008 Cumbria Tourist Awards.

Angela Dunbobbin, owner of Appleby Manor Country House, said: “Appleby Manor is a family-run business and has been an integral part of our lives for many years.

“It was very important to everyone to keep the business in the family and we are delighted to have concluded this deal.

“We are now in a strong position to drive the hotel forward and build upon the success that has already been achieved.”

The hotel was built as a house by local solicitor John Alcock Heelis in 1877.

It was converted into a hotel in the late 1940s and renamed Appleby Manor Country House in 1976.

Andy Gibson and Kerry Grainger from RBS in Carlisle provided funding for the acquisition and ongoing working capital.

Mr Gibson, relationship manager at RBS, said: “Appleby Manor has been transformed into one of Cumbria’s best hotels thanks to the efforts of the Dunbobbin family.”