Anthony and Donna Cooper-Barney have only had the keys to Palé Hall – North Wales’s celebrated AA Five Red Star country house hotel – for a few months, but they seem entirely at ease in their palatial new surroundings.
It’s a world away from the Nottingham council estate where Donna grew up, from which her parents ran a successful market stall business. After school, Donna would polish the shoes for sale and sort them into pairs. When she turned 13 she began working on the markets; Donna and her younger brother running one of the stalls, while their parents ran another two. ‘It was just part of my life,’ Donna says, when I wonder if she resented having to work so hard. ‘There was no question of not doing it, or saying it was unfair. I just did what I was told.’
Donna has absorbed her parents’ work ethic, as well as their attention to detail. ‘Do it once, do it right,’ she says simply. ‘If I didn’t do the shoes well enough, I’d have to do them again until they were perfect. It taught me to put a hundred per cent into the job from the outset.’
As a teenager, Donna harboured dreams of joining the army, inspired by the lead character of one of her favourite films, Private Benjamin. But when she turned 16, her mother responded to a call by the Nottingham Evening Post to find ‘Nottingham’s prettiest girls’, and Donna’s career plans took an entirely different turn.
As much as Donna enjoyed her modelling work, the family’s entrepreneurial spirit was strong, and in her early twenties, Donna opened a shoe shop in Nottingham city centre. That was soon followed by a dress shop, which she built into a successful business before a series of ram-raids in the late 1980s forced her to close. Undeterred, Donna opened a hair salon. She headhunted top stylists and installed luxurious décor inspired by a holiday she had taken to Sun City, South Africa. ‘It was very over the top and opulent,’ she recalls, ‘with big gilt mirrors and leopard-print fabrics. Everyone was amazed.’
It’s clear Donna has an eye for detail. Palé Hall had been lovingly restored by its former owners, but Donna began adding her own touches right away. ‘The mustard yellow in the bar made it feel cold,’ she says, ‘so I had it changed to salmon pink, which has made it so much more welcoming.’ They have sourced crystal chandeliers from French chateaux, and imported clocks and Murano glass to decorate the hotel and its elegant bedrooms. I ask whether it feels as though she’s furnishing the world’s biggest doll’s house, and she laughs. ‘Yes, yes, it does.’
Anthony and Donna didn’t meet until they were in their thirties, but their upbringings are surprisingly similar. Like Donna, Anthony helped with the family business after school and at weekends, selling strawberries from a stall on the side of the road. His early childhood was spent in Queensferry, before his father began working in the leisure industry and the family moved to a caravan park in Wolverhampton. ‘They were grafters,’ Anthony says of his parents, ‘so I’ve never been afraid of hard work.’
He left school at 14 with no qualifications, picking up gardening and construction work, then following his father into the leisure industry and building his own portfolio of caravan parks. By the time he met Donna – then semi-retired and a single mum to two girls – Anthony was a successful entrepreneur.
They were introduced by a mutual friend.
But it was love at first sight, and as the couple’s personal lives merged, so did their professional ones. In 2001, they bought their first holiday park together. ‘We did everything ourselves,’ Donna says. ‘I was the cleaner, the accountant, the bookkeeper, the receptionist, the decorator... Tony did the gardening, the groundworks, the sales, the drains...’
They now own 26 residential and holiday caravan parks across the UK. It’s a business model that has clearly worked well — the Cooper-Barneys enjoy several homes, including a small estate in France, so I’m intrigued by their decision to buy Palé Hall, which I’d seen listed with Savills for a cool six million pounds.
‘We’ve been looking to buy a hotel for the past eight years or so,’ Anthony says. Caravan parks are labour-intensive, he explains, whereas a hotel is what he calls a ‘lifestyle business’, that will, in time, enable them to take a step back from work and enjoy the life they have built together.
‘We brought the bags in from the car,’ Donna says, ‘and Tony was looking online while I was making us a cup of tea when he suddenly called out for me to come and look at a listing. Anthony had found Palé Hall, a hotel boasting Queen Victoria and Sir Winston Churchill among its former guests.
Half an hour later, Donna had packed an overnight bag and booked a room at Palé Hall, and the couple were on their way to North Wales. It was almost midnight when they arrived, and the moment they did, Donna fell in love. ‘As soon as I walked through the door,’ she says, ‘it felt like home.’
Donna and Anthony plan to extend the culinary offerings at Palé, showcasing the talents of their Green Michelin Star chef, Sam Griffiths, by extending the walled garden to increase the seasonal fruit and vegetables to be used in the kitchens and bars. They will be creating a bistro area in the walled garden for guests to enjoy coffee and sandwiches, where they’ll be able to watch the gardeners at work and see the chef picking what he needs for the lunch menu.
Buying the lodge house at the entrance to the Palé Hall estate has enabled the Cooper-Barneys to reinstate the original entrance and sweeping driveway up to the hall. They’ve also bought the nearby Bryntirion Inn from its much-loved landlords. There is some nervousness about the acquisition from local residents, but Anthony is adamant any changes will be for the good. ‘We’d like to create more of a gastropub feel on one side, with quality food,’ he says, ‘but retain the bar area for locals to drink in. It’s important to have a proper village pub.’ With Palé’s driveway reinstated, guests and residents will be able to enjoy a pint at the local, before walking to Palé for dinner. Or, indeed, the other way around.
They have appointed Calum Milne, formerly a tourism ambassador for the Prince of Wales (now King Charles III) who has managed award-winning hotels across the UK as
a director of the business. Together, they are committed to playing an active role in the community, creating jobs and showcasing Welsh artisan food and drink. They plan to hold classic car events and are considering adding a spa. In the meantime, Donna is busy rewilding some of Palé Hall’s 50-acre grounds and creating a sculpture trail with the help of noted New Zealand-born landscape designer Anthony Paul.
It’s clear the Cooper-Barneys have both ambition and vision for Palé Hall. I can’t help but compare this incredible country house to the estate on which Donna grew up, across which she would push her baby sister’s pram, laden with washing, to the laundrette. What would that girl have made of where Donna now spends her days?
‘She wouldn’t believe it.’ Donna shakes her head. ‘It’s another world.’
We’re interrupted by a photographer with a shoot list and a harassed expression. We end the interview, and Anthony and Donna Cooper-Barney take up their positions in the grand entrance to Palé Hall, looking as though they were born to be there.
Palé Estate, Llandderfel, Bala, Gwynedd, LL23 7PS
palehall.co.uk
