About The Milbury
If you’re an avid watcher of Channel 4 property programmes, you may well spot a couple of familiar faces on your visit to the newly renovated Milbury.
That’s because owners Clive and Tanith Cummings’ previous restoration project – an abbey in France which they transformed into a luxury hotel – was featured in Channel 4’s Escape to the Chateau DIY in 2018.
After 17 successful years running the Michelin-starred Abbaye de la Bussière, the dynamic duo returned to the UK looking for a new project.
In 2023 they discovered The Milbury and set about transforming the rundown 17th century building into the kind of pub they would like to frequent themselves: that is a modern, beautifully furnished, comfortable space in which to enjoy excellent quality food and drinks, and with a relaxed but professional style of service.
“We’ve done a Michelin-starred restaurant and hotel, so what we really wanted was a really nice pub serving really nice food - the kind of place we would go to and enjoy,” says Tanith, who has been the mastermind behind the interior design.
“We’re trying really hard to keep away from the idea that there’s the pub and then there’s the restaurant – we serve the same food throughout, but each part of the building has a little bit of a different look and feel.”
Transformation
The grade ll listed pub hadn’t been refurbished since the 1980s and needed a new boiler, new wiring, plumbing and repairs to the roof and chimneys, so it’s little wonder that it took nine months before Clive and Tanith were able to open for drinks, and a further five months before they could start serving food.
There’s still lots to be done, not least restoring the old skittle alley to its former glory, and renovating the 250-year-old treadmill that powers the bucket pulley system for the 300ft well.
Twice as deep as the height of Winchester Cathedral, the well, which is inside the building near the bar, predates the pub by around 400 years: it was cut by hand over 800 years ago and, remarkably, the candles used by the well diggers are still in place up the sides.
Lowering the bucket and bringing it back up again necessitates a two-mile walk in the treadmill, but ask behind the bar for some ice cubes to drop into the well and you can get a good impression of how far down the water level is without any exertion.
Our Well
Did you know?
Depth: 100 metres (328 feet)
Equivalent height: x55.5 average adult people standing one on top of another
Wheel walk distance: Walking the treadwheel to raise or lower the bucket would cover approx. 2.2 miles in total
Historical feature: Alleged to contain a priest hole at the bottom - though this remains unverified
Scale comparison: More than twice the height of Winchester Cathedral (approx. 45 metres / 148 feet tall)
Clive & Tanith
Clive grew up in the hospitality industry: his parents owned Amberley Castle, part of the prestigious Relais & Châteaux collection of hotels, in Amberley, West Sussex for 19 years.
While living at the castle and studying at Westminster Catering College he met Tanith, who lived in the village of Amberley.
Between them the pair then worked in various roles in Clive’s parents’ businesses, including in a pub in the village, running a London-based outside catering company, and eventually becoming joint general managers at Amberley Castle.
In 2005 Clive and Tanith bought the Abbaye de la Bussière in Burgundy, half funded by his parents (who sold Amberley Castle) and half through a French bank.
Clive and Tanith and their four children, all under the age of ten, moved into the abbey, which had been run by the church as a religious retreat, and began transforming it into a luxury hotel.
Within the first year of opening the hotel became a member of Relais & Châteaux and gained its first Michelin star, which it held for the whole 17 years of the Cummings’ ownership.
In 2022, with Clive’s parents eager to withdraw their investment from the property, and Clive and Tanith wanting to be nearer family in England, they sold the hotel to one of their regular guests and returned to the UK ready for their next project.
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