Petwood Hotel

Whilst I was staying with my sister in Lincolnshire, we went for a leisurely stroll around the little town of Woodhall Spa. It grew up in the 1800s, when a plan to sink a coal mine instead revealed mineral-rich spring waters, leading to the town's development as a healing spa. It's very attractive and has some interesting independent shops, including a great secondhand bookshop, where we spent quite a while browsing.

We also went for a coffee on the garden terrace of the Petwood Hotel, in the town. Its award-winning, restored gardens are beautifully kept and well-used for weddings and other events.





The hotel has an interesting history. It was built as a country house for a wealthy heiress, Baroness Grace Van Eckhardstein, in the early 1900s, after a painful divorce. She wanted a retreat, located in her favourite wood or 'pet wood'. Built in an elaborate Tudor/Jacobean style, it has lavish details such as beautiful oak panelling and a hand-carved staircase. She lived there, eventually with her second husband, although during WWI it served as a military hospital. Returned to private use after the war, it became a hotel in 1933.




At the beginning of WWII it became a base for RAF officers, notably of 617 Squadron, the famous Dambusters. They were a top-secret squadron entrusted, among other things, with the destruction of three German dams in the Ruhr, which was achieved in 1943 using the innovative Barnes-Wallis 'bouncing bomb'. The Petwood Hotel is now full of RAF memorabilia and tributes.