We’re thrilled to be unveiling a brand-new look for Ashorne Hill.
Over the last 12 months we’ve undergone some wonderful changes around our site. Increasing the offering to our clients by making Ashorne Hill ‘the destination’ for learning, meeting, and collaborating with teams, our newly refurbished areas have been designed with our clients in mind.
Our New Bar and Break Out Spaces
The reinvented bar and breakout spaces has been transformed into a more welcoming area, reflecting a sense of calm and nature aligning with the Ashorne Hill strategic vision. Featuring a flood of natural light, beautiful foliage with wooden accent seating and different textures, we’ve brought the outside, inside to complement our surroundings and to immerse our clients into the true Ashorne Hill experience.
Our New Bedrooms
We’ve revamped 27 of our en-suite bedrooms, giving our clients calm and tranquility during their stay with us. Bringing our bedrooms to life, we have redesigned each bedroom with nice calming colours, giving that sense of ease whilst staying with us. Accompanied with beautiful soft furnishings, warm lighting, brand new air conditioning for comfort and chilled/cold water machines just outside the rooms to keep our guests hydrated, we everything you need to have a wonderful stay at Ashorne Hill.
Our New and Renewed Meeting Spaces
We’re thrilled to announce a new addition to our meeting room portfolio. Our new Alveston meeting room comes fully equipped with the latest AV and microphone technology and is designed with our clients needs in mind.
Struggling to hear the speaker from the back of the room? This is now a thing of the past as our new 60 seat meeting room comes with the latest voice reinforcement technology to boost your voice around the room, without having to use a microphone. And if you have guests joining remotely, not to worry, our connecting technology and ceiling mounted cameras gives the ability to share your screen as well as giving a wide view of the audience and speaker – giving your remote guest the best experience.
As well as this, we’ve revamped 4 of our meeting rooms to exceptionally high standards and with the latest technology.
Our 100-year-old Octagon meeting room has been revamped to have a modern feel with a new colour scheme, a 100-inch 4K TV screen (the largest screen at Ashorne Hill), and new furnishing.
Our Hampton, Banbury and Ettington meeting rooms have been upgraded from 3 breakout rooms to 3 high quality, calming meeting rooms with the latest equipment and technology, bringing ease to our clients during their meeting.
“We are delighted to unveil our new developments, showcasing our continual commitment of being ‘the destination’ for learning, meeting and collaborating with teams.
From our beautiful new bar and break out spaces (bringing the outdoors in), to our new and renewed bedrooms and meeting spaces, we will always strive to enhance our client’s experience and meeting their expectations.”
Jon West – Managing Director
Here at Ashorne Hill, we pride ourselves on the role we play in our local community; we are sustainable, we are people-orientated, and we take pride in our colleagues.
Earlier this week, in celebration of National Apprenticeship Week, Ashorne Hill’s very own Jonathan Washington (L&D Facilitator) and Calum Wyatt (Business Admin Apprentice) stepped into the new sports hall at Kineton High School, for the KHS Careers Fair.
Calum, previously a student at KHS, knows this sports hall very well having only completed his GCSEs there last year. Calum’s familiarity for both the school, our business and the opportunities in the area, contributed significantly to the success on the day, leading to many students showing interest in Ashorne Hill and what we have to offer.
Between KHS’s careers head, Samantha Turnbull, and Ashorne Hill’s Katie Phillips (HR Officer), we now have a relationship and a mechanism that will enable young people to pursue future opportunities here at Ashorne Hill.
We are looking forward to developing our relationship with Kineton High School and other local schools as we will fly for flag for quality apprenticeship training in the area, offering opportunities and matching aspirations.
We’re delighted to announce that our Executive Head Chef Stuart Anderson has won Sustainability Champion of the year at The Greengage Sustainability Awards.
Passionate about providing excellent customer service to our clients and colleagues, Stuart was prized on his commitment for putting sustainability at the forefront of everything he does here at Ashorne Hill.
Having received multiple awards for encouraging key initiatives and making fantastic sustainability improvements at Ashorne Hill, Stuart was also recently awarded Guardians of Grub Partnership status– official recognition for all the brilliant work he’s doing to help tackle climate change by reducing wasted food throughout the business.
Find out more about Stuart’s key sustainability initiatives over the last 12 months below:
Reducing food waste: passionate about reducing food waste in the business. Stuart has introduced a scheme for staff to buy leftover food at heavily discounted rates which benefits the planet by reducing waste and giving staff access to tasty and affordable food, lowering Ashorne Hill’s carbon footprint. Within our first month of running this scheme, we have managed to save a total of 103 meals from the bin at an average of 25 meals per week.
We have also started working with local suppliers, reducing travel time, and supporting local farmers and food businesses.
Created a QR code digital menus – reducing paper usage by at least 60,000 sheets
Our very own Rum and Gin: Created by our Chefs at Ashorne and grown from our own botanicals we worked with The Warwickshire Gin Company to craft our own Gin & Rum.
We chose a local brewer, supporting a small local business while helping the environment by reducing the carbon footprint that would be produced by having mass-produced products delivered to us. With local breweries sourcing their ingredients and distributing products locally they have a much smaller carbon footprint themselves, but using what is already in the Ashorne grounds is an added bonus.
Reducing the use of single use plastics throughout the business: Stuart steered the group in reduction of single use plastics throughout our business. We’ve stopped providing plastic bottled water to clients and now provide refillable glass jugs and Vegware compostable cups. We also encourage guests to bring their own refillable bottles, reducing water wasted from discarded bottles and chemicals from cleaning.
Upgraded our garbage collection:
We have upgraded our garbage collection to a more environmentally friendly vendor, ensuring that all of our hospitality waste is recyclable. Every day, our kitchen staff audits the bins to make sure there are no waste disposal mistakes. We are currently experimenting with innovative approaches to discover applications for them before we throw any of our food away:
Eggshells – Our ground-down, dried eggshells are available for customers to take home and use as fertiliser. This is a cheap and often efficient method of enriching plants.
Coffee Grinds – Customers can take away and utilise the packaged coffee grinds as compost.
Juiced Lemons – Our juiced lemons are salted and sugared before being used as a garnish for fish meals or tagines.
Orange & Lemon peel – The dried peels of oranges and lemons are used as kindling in the Great Hall.
Vegetable Trimmings – In our soups, sauces, and stocks, vegetable trimmings are used up after being stored in the refrigerator.
Broccoli Stalks – Broccoli pakoras are made from chopped and shredded broccoli stalks.
Cake offcuts – For staff breaks, bowls of cake trimmings are set out.
Salad bar – We have also removed the salad bar from our restaurant, but the salad choice is still available to customers with the same selection of alternatives. This is one of our further initiatives to reduce food waste. This helps us limit the amount of food that is wasted while we eat. All of these changes will save 40g of food waste per person per meal and cut food waste by 10% per person.
On Thursday 30th November, Sophie Owen a JLR employee and learner on Ashorne Hill’s graduate training programme, kindly donated a defibrillator in memory of her late father.
“Since joining JLR, my growth and development journey started in collaboration with Ashorne Hill on the graduate training programme, so I felt it was very fitting to give back to a very special place that aids in developing JLR employees like myself.”
The team at Ashorne Hill are touched by Sophie’s beautiful story and kind gesture in her donation.
Defibrillators saves lives, so having access to a life-saving equipment, should it ever be needed makes all the difference – thank you again to Sophie, Heart Health in Business and JLR.
Read Sophie’s story below:
“After the loss of my father to a sudden cardiac arrest in 2019, I have suffered with PTSD and the indescribable grief of loosing my dad when I was 17.
My dad had his own training and development business (CBO Business Development) so I was taught from a young age about having a growth mindset and being resilient during hard times.
As a JLR People Chapter employee, I was truly excited to donate a life saving defibrillator package to Ashorne Hill, which I was lucky enough to win through my dedicated group Heart Health in Business on LinkedIn.
Since joining JLR, my growth and development journey started in collaboration with Ashorne Hill on the graduate training programme, so I felt it was very fitting to give back to a very special place that aids in developing JLR employees like myself.
With my father being so dedicated to growth and development in his business, I felt it was truly fitting and a place my dad would have loved also! Heart Health in Business is a dedicated LinkedIn group set on educating others on heart disease prevention, teaching CPR and the use of defibrillators in emergencies.
Please do join the community by scanning the below QR code to help me make an impact in memory of my father Chris Owen and to save lives!
I am proudly donating this defibrillator to Ashorne Hill on behalf of Heart Health in Business and JLR.”
This summer Ashorne Hill had the pleasure of hosting a leadership and development event for our client JLR. The event took place over a 4-week period where we welcomed over 2,000 delegates to our beautiful Ashorne Hill.
The run up to the big day was exciting as the plan evolved and the team assembled to pull together a programme of 12 repeat day events with 200 delegates and fifteen facilitators at each one.
Our client requested for a bespoke tented village, which consisted of 1 large marquee, 3 smaller marquees, 6 tipis, 3 luxury toilets, and a catering tent with over 400 meters of matting and bunting connecting the areas. The event was wholly delivered in the tented village with registration tent, car parking marshalls and health and safety considerations all covered.
From the outset the client’s objective was of nurturing the attendees, creating a very different experience and opening minds and hearts to a new way of thinking. Healthy food, sustainable products and delivering opportunities for personal reflection were important aspects for the programme.
The programme required subcontracting over 10 different aspects of the set up at a level unseen at Ashorne Hill before. Our man on the ground was Josh Tucker, Operations Manager who sourced, negotiated and booked all the services to set the framework for our clients to deliver their event. With over 2,000 attendees the strong relationship between Ashorne Hill and our client JLR was critical in ensuring that each event went smoothly and the days ran seamlessly. Even the British weather did not put us off!
Staying true to our Ashorne Hill values on sustainability, we delivered the healthy lunch box in eco-packaging with overall around 10,000 pieces of disposable vegware being used during the programme. Delegates were encouraged to bring their own reusable water bottles to fill at the water stations so that we didn’t need to use plastic water bottles which could have been in their thousands.
Our client also donated some honey produced by their own bees which Ashorne Hill was able to incorporate into one of the elements of the nutritious food provided. The plants sourced for inside the village structures were all re-homed to either individuals or offices across the two companies and other went on to be part of charitable events, many other purchases were repurposed for future use.
Jon West, Managing Director at Ashorne Hill said “It was such a pleasure to host JLR for their leadership and development event this summer. Our team showed up in true Ashorne Hill fashion and delivered a fantastic event for our client. From providing an excellent bespoke space tailored to our client’s needs, to welcoming delegates, serving delicious meals and exceptional customer service – I cannot thank them enough.”
Renata Homer, General Manager at Ashorne Hill said “The last 4-weeks have been amazing. This event has shown that dreaming big can be achieved. Challenging perhaps, but impossible, no.”
Well, the discussions remain open now about what next with our client? Something equally exciting, demanding and of course making a difference.
To find out more about our special events and how we tailor them to our client’s needs please contact us on: 01926 488008 or enquiries@ashornehill.co.uk
We are delighted to announce that Ashorne Hill are proud winners of Career Development Specialists for Central England at the Prestige Awards.
At Ashorne Hill we pride ourselves in creating seamless learning programmes for early talent, leadership and management teams through a blended programme mix – including face-to-face and digital. With cost effective personalised learning experiences tailored to business needs, our approach is both innovative and dynamic, providing almost complete flexibility to the learning experience.
Our learners can take full advantage of our very own training teams or one of our bespoke training packages developed to meet their needs and delivered by our very own facilitators. This is why this award means the world to us.
James Lee, Learning and Development Director at Ashorne Hill said: “This is a fantastic achievement and is a testament to the unwavering commitment and dedication from our team in empowering and inspiring learners. I would like to say a huge thank you and well done to our fantastic team here at Ashorne Hill and not to mention our amazing learners – we couldn’t have done it without you.”
We are thrilled to report that Ashorne Hill has won two prestigious awards for Conference Centre of the Year and Unique Venue of the Year at the 2023 Famtastic Rocks Awards on 27th October.
The award ceremony, which recognises the cream of event professionals in the hospitality and events industry, took place at the Mercure Manchester Piccadilly Hotel, in a glamorous evening of celebration.
The judges recognised Ashorne Hill’s unique blend of history with a modern hi-tech, hi-touch environment for meetings, training, and events, with its platinum ECOsmart accreditation and in-house team of learning and development managers as outstanding.
Not just a hotel or an event venue, Ashorne Hill is a unique and dedicated learning and development centre set in 35 acres of tranquil grounds in the heart of Warwickshire, their core values and the long-term legacy of helping teams to build their future and set goals together is truly unique and has been acknowledged through the receipt of these two accolades.
Jon West, Managing Director at Ashorne Hill said “We are thrilled to have received these two accolades at this year’s Famtastic Rocks Awards which truly sum up the unique environment we offer visitors here at Ashorne Hill. Of course, neither of these awards would have been possible without the dedication of our colleagues and I’d like to personally thank everyone for the hard work that goes into every event, and for the inspiration you give to our guests.”
An award-winning author shared her insights on non-verbal communication at an event for learning and development professionals, based on her work with a herd of horses to develop leaders and teams.
Learning and development professionals from across the country heard from leadership coach Jude Jennison, founder of Leaders by Nature, in an event at Ashorne Hill in Leamington Spa.
Meeting of Minds is a free event organised by the dedicated learning solutions provider, development and conference centre which enables professionals to share best practice, new approaches, discuss organisational strategies and challenges, and gain insight into future learning trends.
Jude held a senior management position at technology firm IBM before founding Leaders by Nature, a leadership and team development company where she works with a herd of horses to reconnect leaders and teams to their own natural leadership behaviours.
The topic of the event was ‘To speak or not to speak, is that the question?’ and explored team dynamics and relationships within a business.
Jude highlighted the impact different leadership styles has on her horses, with the animals either relaxing, becoming playful or responding with force, and how different non-verbal approaches impact people in teams in a similar way.
Jude said: “Businesses are under huge pressure, so having the skills to develop people and keep people engaged is critical at this time.
“It’s vital for professionals to come together, share ideas and network. The CEO often says its lonely at the top, but HR often say that too.
“I presented on the hidden dynamics of team performance, looking at what’s not being said in a team. We are communicating non-verbally all the time, but we usually don’t pay attention to it.
“Horses provide leaders and teams an opportunity to understand the impact of their non-verbal behaviorus and explore new ways of communicating in order to be more effective.
“The key takeaway for me from the discussions at the event was how we promote self-directed learning and also recognise that people may need to be guided out of their comfort zones to engage in new topics and ways of learning they may not normally explore or understand.
“I think the future of learning and development is how do we position the workforce so that people are more human, so we use technology in a positive way to enhance the lives of employees and be more productive, without turning people into robots with unsustainable and unachievable workloads. We need these human skills more than ever before.”
The topic of the Meeting of Minds event was ‘To speak or not to speak, is that the question?’ and explored team dynamics and relationships within a business.
It attracted representatives and consultants from major organisations, working nationally and globally, who manage learning and development strategies and training delivery at their companies.
The industry leaders highlighted that the biggest challenges facing the profession currently are; leveraging and maximising ROI, self-directed learning, cultural differences, changing mindsets and balancing the importance of technology with human skills.
James Lee, Learning and Development Director at Ashorne Hill, facilitated the session.
He said: “Our Meetings of the Minds forum continue to grow in reputation, attracting learning and development professionals from across the UK, ranging from SMEs and consultants, to managers from large corporates.
“We would like to thank Jude for speaking at our latest event and sharing her unrivalled knowledge on the impact of non-verbal behaviour and how what is not being said can sometimes be one of the most significant factors impacting a team’s performance.”
Jude Jennison’s book OPUS: the Hidden Dynamics of Team Performance is available from www.judejennison.com. Meeting of Minds will be returning early next year and for more information about future Meeting of Minds events visit https://ashornehill.co.uk/meetingofminds/
Next up in our getting to know the team here at Ashorne Hill is our Director of Learning & Development James Lee.
Your name: James Lee
Your job title: Director of Learning & Development
How long have you worked at Ashorne Hill for?
I joined in January 2021.
What changes to the learning environment have you seen since joining Ashorne Hill and most recently post covid?
I think much has changed since I joined Ashorne Hill and now post-covid. The world of learning and how people want to learn in particular, has changed. The desire to get together and enjoy collaborative, in person learning for some is as hungry as ever. For others, it makes more sense for a number of reasons to absorb their learning in bite-size, easily accessible and pull-down formats.
What challenges do you see learners and companies facing and how can Ashorne Hill help overcome these challenges?
I think as hybrid working has become the new norm for many, the way managers manage and learners learn has changed. Many topics are easily delivered in a digital or virtual environment, and this makes for easier consumption in many cases. However, for inter-personal skills development, the clue is in the words, and this can be more of a challenge.
Following your promotion, how has your role changed and what is your main focus now?
It is not just my role but the team too, who have changed. We are growing the team across the disciplines we have in the department, which now allows me more time to be more strategic, support the business development team, develop our programme offering and extend our reach.
Ashorne Hill’s mission is to create growth through people, can you explain a little about how your career was allowed to grow at Ashorne Hill?
I joined Ashorne Hill as Programme Director, then became Learning Solutions Manager and now Head up L&D. We focus on staff development across the team and that includes the senior members. However, I do feel that part of this involves self-development and personal growth. If you want it to, every day can be a school day – get involved and ask more questions about the areas you don’t fully understand – “that’s my motto.”
In your opinion what makes Ashorne Hill such a great place to work at?
My opinion appears to be shared by many others including our guests and customers:
1). It is a beautiful place in every sense.
2). It is a beautiful place in every sense.
3). It is a beautiful place… Oh, have I already mentioned that? You get my drift.
In your opinion, what makes Ashorne Hill an ideal choice for learning?
I am biased of course, but without quoting feedback from our learners directly, we have the best of all worlds. Fantastic learning spaces, the right technology and infrastructure but most of all the mix of indoor and outside spaces. Our learners choices include tipis, geodesic domes, quiet, ‘not so quiet’, woodland, fields, walks – and that is if you’re here. Otherwise, you can access your learning digitally or virtually but guided by one of our expert facilitators at every step.
What is next for the learning team? How do you see the next 12 months developing?
Our focus is to provide our customers with learning that is delivered at the right level, right time, their choice of place and their choice of format. So, we are focused on creative, exciting, and practical modules that can be digested across platforms but importantly in their time, should that be their choice. Content, content, content!
Ashorne Hill exudes positivity and creativity, give us your most positive phrase or saying.
Live, ‘live’!
And finally, what is your favourite thing about Ashorne Hill.
The trees!
