Three Arches Care Limited, trading as Westhorpe Hall Rest Home, a well established and highly regarded care home situated near Stowmarket, Suffolk has been sold.
The care home occupies the original site of Westhorpe Hall, the home of Henry VIII's younger sister Mary, the Queen of France, and her husband, Charles Brandon. The only remaining feature of the original building, which was torn down in the 1760s, is the three-arched bridge crossing the moat, which surrounds the house and its garden.
The Barker Family acquired Lodge Farm in 1957 and bought Hall Farm in 1960, which included the current Westhorpe Hall, a Grade II listed Georgian building. Westhorpe Hall has been used as a public house, a hotel and a family home throughout the years, until it was converted to a care home in 1985.
Registered for 21 residents, the care home comprises 11 bedrooms, a dining room, two lounges, a conservatory, and a kitchen on the ground floor, with a further eight bedrooms on the first floor. The second floor provides a living room, kitchen and a loft with external access. Situated in a mature wooded corner of the farm, the property maintains beautiful grounds with planted flowerbeds, fruit and vegetable plots, lawns and patio seating areas. There is also a heated summer house and car parking area.
Three Arches Care Limited, which takes its name from Westhorpe Hall’s Tudor three-arched bridge, was owned and operated by the Barker family, who decided to sell the care business in order to concentrate on their expanding farming and farm contracting business, EJ Barker & Sons. Patrick Barker of EJ. Barker & Sons comments, “We are very happy to have passed the care home business over to a company committed to delivering quality service for many years to come.”
The home has been acquired by Cephas / Alpha Holdings Ltd, an experienced group operator with care businesses across the country in the elderly, learning disability and childcare sectors. David Finch, managing director of Cephas / Alpha Holdings Ltd comments, “The purchase of Three Arches Care Ltd represents another step forward in our drive to increase our position within the care market. The home has a lot of character and charm and we felt it was a perfect fit for our growing portfolio.”
Robert Mellamphy, director at Christie & Co, who handled the sale, comments, "The marketing commenced in early September and we quickly identified an operator who was a good fit for our clients, who were looking for a quality operator to take a lease and be their long term tenant. The sale, on a company share basis, was concluded within three months.”
