Welcoming our Guests

Our Vision and Plans for Hospitality

Covid has left our Guesthouse closed for nearly two years and it has given us, the Belmont Community, time to reflect on our much-missed work of hospitality so important for our Benedictine mission.

It has been a real blessing to welcome the homeless during this period, but as we look to re-open our doors, and undertake refurbishment, we have realised it is time to embrace a more ambitious plan for the future.

Hedley Lodge has served our guests well since it first opened around 1990 but something more is needed for the years ahead. There are always people seeking places of peace, prayer and reflection, and, as St Benedict insists, our welcome is for 'all', whoever they may be.

So we are embarking on, what we think is a bold plan for hospitality. It is costly in financial terms, but we believe it will help us offer a better welcome in the future and draw our guests closer into our monastic environment.

This story explains our vision, of how with faith and hope we want to invest in the future of Belmont, and offer our traditional Benedictine welcome to guests in a new way.

New Accommodation

A key part of our plan is to develop part of our monastic buildings. We will:

Open up the North Wing (below) to provide modern, comfortable and fully-accessible accommodation.

Offer 10 new, completely refurbished rooms with ensuite facilities to all our guests.

Our top-floor rooms will be sympathetic to the traditional design of our monastery with their gothic-eave windows.

Our first floor rooms with their larger windows will be bright and airy and filled with natural light.

Our Benedictine heritage is expressed in each room, named after one of ancient monasteries of England.

A New Hub

As part of our development we want to offer a welcoming space where our guests can come together during their stay. This is something missing at the moment and many have told us they would welcome such a place.

We will transform the current bar area into a comfortable lounge-dining room for people to read and relax or for refeshments and conversation by:

Removing the present bar and letting in the light by adding new windows looking out onto St Luke's garden.

Adding a patio area with chairs on a new patio.

Creating a space where guests can meet members of the monastic community.

Providing dining space for small numbers of guests.

Offering refreshments for retreat groups and tea and coffee making facilities for individual guests.

Accessibility

It is no longer acceptable for people to be excluded from premises because of any infirmities or disabilities they may have. So we are determined that Belmont offers a warm, inviting and inclusive welcome to all.

One of the main features of our new guest accommodation will be the addition of a new five-person lift to all floors.

This lift will be able to accommodate a wheelchair, so no one should be excluded from any part of the new guest wing. It will make things easier for those with limited mobility.

The church, conference and dining rooms and shop are all on the ground floor.

Translating the Vision

This last year we have been reflecting on the future of our hospitality here at Belmont, and at a recent Community Chapter there was enthusiastic agreement to go ahead with the project to provide a better welcome for our guests.

A surveyor and project manager was appointed, and after competitive tendering a local building firm has been contracted.

Work should begin by April and it is likely to take much of the year, getting us ready to reopen in early 2023. We hope our regular guests who are waiting for us to reopen will feel it well worth the wait.

The Larger Plan

This development is part of a plan to make better use of our buildings. Our auditors believe we need to do this so that Belmont is on a sure and sustainable financial footing.

We see this as a great opportunity to offer a refreshed and reinvigorated approach to hospitality.

We will continue to develop the site to meet and embrace the challenges and opportunities of the future.

The shop will move to a new location.

Your Support

So we are embarking on a fundraising campaign, and this is the start.

We appreciate that this work will cost a lot of money. The community is prepared to invest a capital sum in this project as we see it as vital for the future. But we will also need to raise a significant amount to support us in this venture. We anticipate the overall cost of the project to be £600,000.

We have set up this JustGiving campaign in the hope that our many friends will support us. We will also be approaching organisations that offer grants to help us to deliver this project.

Will you help?

1. Your prayer and encouragement are vital. The pandemic has taught us the importance of mutual support.

2. A one-off donation, large or small. All will help. This JustGiving campaign page makes it easy.

3. Regular giving. Would you commit to give each month for the duration of the project by making a regular bank payment?

4. As this is a long-term vision for the next decades would you consider making a legacy or bequest, by remembering us in your will?