Discovering Petwood Hotel: Dambusters History, Stunning Gardens, and Excellent Dining
History, Hospitality, and Heartfelt Celebrations in the Heart of Bomber County
Petwood Hotel - Woodhall Spa
January 10th, 2026 was a special day for my friends, Jim and Carol. They chose Petwood Hotel for a celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary. It’s over two hundred miles from my home, and so an ideal opportunity for Mrs M and me to take a weekend break in order to attend this special occasion.
Let me tell you about our stay here and some of the history of Petwood Hotel. The small town of Woodhall Spa is in Lincolnshire, around six miles southwest of Horncastle and eighteen miles southeast of Lincoln. This area of Lincolnshire has many past and present Royal Air Force air bases. It was well situated for WW2 bombers to reach Germany, it’s also very flat land. There was an airfield at Woodhall Spa which served as a satellite airbase for nearby RAF Coningsby, and remnants of it can be explored. The RAF has a history with Petwood, as you will find out later.
The origin of Woodhall Spa
Woodhall became a spa town when the attempts of John Pemberton at coal mining, starting in 1811, proved impossible due to the underground springs. Some twenty years later, Thomas Hotchkin, the Lord of the Manor, decided to capitalise on the mineral-rich spring water and opened up spa baths, and Woodhall had the word Spa added to its name. Many came to enjoy the spa waters, and the attraction was noticed by a wealthy heiress, Baroness Grace van Eckhardstein.
Grace was going through a bad time due to a divorce and wanted a place in the country where she could live. The beautiful wooded areas were a perfect fit for her. Her father had bequeathed her money for a house, and so she got to work planning her home in the woods. She found the land which she called her ‘pet wood’. In 1905, a bungalow was proposed, but it was not up to her lavish tastes and expectations. She employed the services of an architect, Frank Peck, and it seems no expense was spared on building her home in a Tudor to Jacobean style. One has only to look at the size of the house, the wooden panelling throughout, and the magnificent hand-carved oak staircase, to know that this is luxury without a limited budget.
Click on gallery photos for a full view
Grace married Sir Archibald Weigall in 1910, and Petwood was used a lot for entertaining the wealthy and well-connected of the day. The house, like many grand houses during WW1, was used as a military hospital and had several wards along with an operating theatre. At the conclusion of the war, it was returned to private use.
It was in 1933 that it became a hotel, Lady Grace (now) Weigall, and her husband moved to another home they owned, Engelmere at Ascot.
The RAF and Petwood Hotel
The RAF connection commenced with WW2 when Petwood became home to officers from 97 and 619 Squadrons from 1942. 619 moved out to nearby RAF Coningsby, and in moved 617 Squadron, which became known as ‘The Dambusters’. They became based at RAF Woodhall Spa, and the officers were housed at Petwood. The bombers that took part in the raid on the German dams flew from RAF Scampton, just north of Lincoln. The bombers that destroyed the German battleship, Tirpitz, did fly from Woodhall Spa.
The hotel makes use of its RAF links, and in the garden is a Barnes Wallis bouncing bomb for residents to be reminded of the Dambusters connection, with an even better reminder inside the hotel. The Squadron Bar contains memorabilia and serves as a small museum to the time the hotel was used by 617 Squadron.
That is a condensed history of Petwood, but let me tell you about our experience staying there and enjoying the hospitality. We arrived around 1.30 pm on the day of the anniversary and met up with our friends, Jim and Carol. They had booked an afternoon tea, which is one of their favourite delights, and the guests were due to arrive around 2.30 pm. We were allowed to check in early, and our room was close to the top of the wonderful oak staircase already mentioned.
Our room at Petwood Hotel
The room was very clean and comfortable, with a good-sized wardrobe, comfortable bed, desk, and a couple of chairs, one for the desk and an armchair for relaxing. A TV was in one corner. Our room overlooked the car park at the front of the hotel. The ensuite had a bath/shower and was clean and perfectly functional. Although it was a sunny afternoon, it was at freezing point outside; it was very warm in the room. There had been a light covering of snow overnight.
Afternoon Tea at Petwood Hotel
Once we had settled our belongings into the room, we spent time chatting to some of the party guests, making use of a nook in the bay window on the staircase, before heading to the ‘Garden Room’ for afternoon tea. The gardens are extensive, and I will look around those tomorrow and tell you about them.
We had to keep in mind that we had booked an evening meal at 7 pm and kept an eye on how many sandwiches, scones, and cakes we ate! The food was well presented and of the highest quality.
Just after the afternoon tea had concluded and we had just got back to our room to freshen up and get ready for dinner, when the power went out! This was around 6 pm, and it was discovered that National Grid had a problem with an overhead cable.
The hotel has a charming lounge just off the bar with a log fire burning at one end and logs added regularly by the staff. We sat in this lounge accompanied by small rechargeable battery lights and chatted to a couple, Margaret and Bruce, two of our newly made friends who were also staying overnight.
The power came back on just after 7 pm, and the staff did a magnificent job of getting back on track for dinner. Mrs. M opted out of a starter, worrying that she might not manage her main course after the afternoon tea. I went for it! My starter was ‘Smoked Haddock, Bubble & Squeak Croquette with Poached Egg, Grain Mustard Sauce’ as described on the menu. The fish was cooked to perfection, and the bubble and squeak was tasty. Sadly, I forgot to take a photo to show you!
For mains, my choice was ‘12 Hour Slow Braised Short Rib of Beef with Smoked Garlic Potato Puree, Roasted Root Vegetables, Braising Stock’. The meat was so tender that it almost melted in my mouth. It was a dish packed with flavour.
Annette (aka Mrs M) decided upon the ‘6oz Tuna Loin Steak, Served with Beef Dripping Chips, Onion Rings, Mushroom Salsa, Grilled Tomato’. She assured me that this too was a fabulous dish.
Neither of us is a food critic, so please don’t expect a description of all those flavours 😀
For dessert, Annette felt she could only manage ice cream. Somehow, I managed to squeeze in ‘Chocolate Orange Delice, Blood Orange Sorbet, Honeycomb’. The rich chocolate of the delice complemented the blood orange sorbet and cream. Truly delicious and very filling after what I had eaten that afternoon.
The bed was comfortable, and the hotel, although very busy with guests, was quiet, and there was no disturbance to prevent sleep. Breakfast is included, and for your information, I had a package that included the evening meals.
Due to the hotel being very busy, breakfast was self-service on Sunday morning, and we helped ourselves to an excellent English breakfast. The food was laid out in the Squadron Bar next to the restaurant. Monday would be back to normal with waitress service.
Following breakfast, we braved the icy wind and dampness on what was now a very grey day. Yesterday’s sunshine was replaced by January gloom. Petwood Hotel has very large gardens and a wooded area for all guests to enjoy. It’s a lovely wedding venue, and the gardens in the warmer weather will make an excellent backdrop for the wedding photos. The gardens were designed by the famous garden designer, Harold Peto. In 2011, restoration work on the gardens commenced, and in 2017, Historic England announced the Grade II listing to ensure their future preservation. With so much acreage and a woodland, it’s an ideal hotel for those who bring their dogs with them.
I was hoping for a bit better weather to explore more of the area; however, we took the short walk towards town, firstly following a road through woodland signposted to the Kinema in the Woods and the Tea House in the Woods. The Kinema, yes, it is a cinema but pronounced with a K, and is believed to be the only full-time cinema in the country that uses back projection. It has several screens, but the original screen (now Screen One) has such low roof trusses that standard projection can’t work.
The Kinema in the Woods
The Kinema in the Woods started out as a sports pavilion in the grounds of the Victoria Hotel, which burned down on Easter Sunday, 1920. According to the Kinema’s website, the following happened:
In 1922, Sir Archibald and Lady Weigall purchased the Victoria Hotel ruins, including the sports pavilion, and, with the assistance of Captain Carleton Cole Allport, the pavilion was transformed into a cinema, which opened its doors on Monday, September 11th, 1922, at 7 p.m. The first film to be shown was intended to be “The Lion Eaters“; however, the film failed to arrive, and a Charlie Chaplin film was shown in its place.
In 1994, a second auditorium was opened with 92 seats, and a third in 2019, with a very small twenty-one-seater opening in October 2021, appropriately named Kinema 4. Not stopping at four, the Kinema, in 2022, opened an outdoor area, Woodland Courtyard, for summer entertainment. It’s quite an amazing achievement to have such a successful cinema and I would imagine quite a tourist attraction and unique cinema; or should I say Kinema?
Sadly, there’s not enough time on this trip to take in a film. Hamnet was one of the films available, just in case you were wondering. You might be forgiven for thinking that such a quaint cinema might still be showing Charlie Chaplin movies.
We passed the Tea House in the Woods, which is a short walk past the Kinema and then on into town. There is a lovely independent bookshop, The Book Fayre, in which we spent a while perusing books. There is a good selection of second-hand books in addition to new, and a good range of gifts and greeting cards.
The smallest shoe shop in Britain
The railway used to pass through Woodhall Spa, and what was once the ticket office houses the smallest shoe shop in Britain, Peter Scott Shoes. At the narrowest point, it is barely three feet (90cm) deep and very little room for anyone to squeeze in. A customer was squeezed in and sat down trying on shoes, which the company website says will be cheaper than any High Street store in Lincolnshire with a ‘refund the difference price promise’.
The weather was getting worse, making it difficult to get any photos. I must go back and have a follow-up visit. So, it’s back to the hotel for our second and final night.
Dinner was once again lovely, and we both started with the soup of the day, a spicy and warming parsnip. An ideal choice on such a winter’s day. My choice of mains was ‘8oz Sirloin Steak. Served with Beef Dripping Chips, Onion Rings, Mushroom Salsa, and Grilled Tomato.
Annette chose the ‘Curry of the Day’, which was a Korma. For desserts, we both resorted to ice cream, which slipped down easily to conclude our meal. Only breakfast to go.
Monday, our final day before heading back to Wiltshire. Jim and Carol popped over before they headed on holiday, so we spent an hour or so with them in the lounge and catching up on life. They moved to Horncastle a little while ago, and we haven’t had the opportunity to visit since then.
I must say that Petwood Hotel offers a relaxing atmosphere, lovely gardens, great food, and wonderful staff who made our stay so enjoyable. We would love to return and repeat the experience. If you’re looking for a place to stay in the area, and it’s a great base to explore Lincolnshire, do try out this hotel.
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What a wonderful place! I love a good afternoon tea and that food looks amazing! After reading this I absolutely want to see the smallest shoe shop, so cute!