The newly renovated Lime Wood prides itself as being a luxury country house hotel with a difference.  With interiors by David Collins and architecture by Charles Morris and Ben Pentreath, the brief for the renovation was to keep the spirit of the Georgian building alive, whilst adding contemporary twists to create a modern and refreshing interpretation of the classic English Country House look, set in the midst of the New Forest.

Sally Storey, Design Director of Lighting Design International says, "working with such creative designers to develop a simple and understated yet exciting scheme was a challenge, and one we enjoyed being part of."
The lighting was to be subtle and understated. At first instance the lighting was to appear as if all the decorative lighting elements did all the work, whereas these items were dimmed so that discrete LED miniature lights would uplight a column or emphasise a fireplace.

Discrete recessed spots in the ceiling are used to focus on flowers or art work, with all these effects balanced so that they seamlessly change throughout the day.
Particular attention was placed in the Restaurant to create mood. The courtyard was an essential part of the scheme - flooding in natural light during the day and subtly switching to dramatic uplight at night, transforming the space into a magical place to sit and have a drink.

Each bedroom is individual and unlike other hotels the interiors and lighting were uniquely designed. The bathrooms could be bright for day and mood lit for the evening with a PIR detector bringing on a low level light automatically in the middle of the night.

Another unique discovery in the hotel is the cellar, which was discretely lit to not only emphasis the wines but provide a dramatic setting for a private dinner, using the latest technology to softly back light and front light the bottles.
The exterior was particularly important to ensure the existing old house and new buildings melted into the surroundings, which skillfully has been achieved with the subtle use of buildings making them appear to have been there forever!

It was essential that the lighting provided route finding to each room as well as creating a dramatic vista with the lit reflecting in the two moats, as these were the backdrop back from the conservatory restaurant

Interiors:
David Collins
Architecture:
Charles Morris
Ben Pentreath