Visionaries
James & Fjona Hill
Founders-Hampton Manor
Solihull, West Midlands, England
In the heart of the English Midlands stands a manor house built in 1855 by the son of a former Prime Minister. By the time James and Fjona Hill found it, the building had spent years as a care home before falling into disrepair. James's mum discovered the property while looking for a daytime venue. James and Fjona were 26 when they decided to restore it. Seventeen years later it is one of the most important food destinations in England.
The Story of James & Fjona Hill
In the heart of the English Midlands stands a former Victorian manor house that had fallen into decades of neglect before James and Fjona Hill began imagining what it could become.
Origin
Raised between the West Midlands and Worcester, where James's parents ran The Pear Tree Inn. Fjona grew up in a medical family and studied medicine at Manchester University before practising as a doctor in the NHS.
Former Life
James grew up on site at his parents' pub near Worcester from the age of four. Fjona was a medical doctor in the NHS with no connection to hospitality when the Hill family found Hampton Manor.
The Turning Point
In 2008, James's mum found the dilapidated manor on 45 acres while looking for a daytime venue. The building was dark, neo-Gothic, buried under years of paint. James and Fjona were 26 when they took it on and began stripping it back to its Arts and Crafts bones.
Obsession
Gathering people around the table. Everything at Hampton Manor exists to serve that single idea, from the walled garden that feeds two restaurants to the estate that produces its own honey, herbs and bread.
The Detail
They spent six months stripping layers of paint to uncover the original William Morris designs and honeyed stonework that had been buried for decades. Local craftsmen and women were brought in to restore the Arts and Crafts heritage while keeping the feel warm and unstuffy rather than museum-like.
What They Preserved
The 1855 Arts and Crafts structure, the 150 year old woodlands, the Victorian walled garden, and the William Morris patterns and period details that had been covered over and forgotten. The building was never modernised out of recognition. It was uncovered.
The building that is now Hampton Manor was originally constructed in 1855 as a private estate for Frederick Peel, son of former Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel. Guests came here for grand gatherings among the Arts and Crafts interiors and 45 acres of English countryside. After decades as a care home and then abandonment, the building remained structurally intact but buried under layers of paint and neglect.
The Story of Hampton Manor
Hospitality got into my blood and that became something I could never shake.
Equally important was the land itself. The 45 acres of woodland had grown untouched for over a century, the Victorian walled garden buried under years of neglect. Fjona and James rebuilt it by hand into a working kitchen garden that now feeds everything. Their chefs pick ingredients minutes before service. Grace and Savour, their ten seat restaurant, was built inside that garden so guests could sit at the counter watching food travel from soil to plate in the same breath. Hampton Manor exists not as a hotel with a restaurant but as a table with rooms around it, where luxury is measured by what is grown, made and shared on the land beneath your feet.
Equally important was the land itself. The 45 acres of woodland had grown untouched for over a century, the Victorian walled garden buried under years of neglect. Fjona and James rebuilt it by hand into a working kitchen garden that now feeds everything. Their chefs pick ingredients minutes before service. Grace and Savour, their ten seat restaurant, was built inside that garden so guests could sit at the counter watching food travel from soil to plate in the same breath. Hampton Manor exists not as a hotel with a restaurant but as a table with rooms around it, where luxury is measured by what is grown, made and shared on the land beneath your feet.
“There was this kind of enchanting feel and it just filled you with this excitement about what would it be to bring this back and make it beautiful again.”
Fjona remembers being struck most by walking through the 150 year old woodlands, mature and wild, the formal gardens lost to time. There was something enchanting buried underneath the neglect. When they stepped inside, the building was dark and neo-Gothic, years of paint covering the original Arts and Crafts details. They spent six months stripping it all back, uncovering golden honeyed stonework that had been hidden for decades. Working with local craftsmen they brought the heritage back while keeping it warm and alive rather than preserved behind glass. The walled garden was restored and replanted. Grace and Savour, their ten seat restaurant built into that garden with an open kitchen and counter seating, became the purest expression of the vision James had carried since childhood. A place where food, craft and the people who make it all sit together at the same table.
