Discover life-friendly creative connections at Crafted at Powdermills by Samantha Ready

©Owen Vidler

You can tell a lot about a place by how it treats its history. At Crafted at Powdermills, just outside Battle, the past isn’t hidden away behind information boards or confined to a few framed photographs in reception. Instead, it quietly informs everything. The lake (absolutely vast and entirely man-made) that shimmers across the estate was once integral to one of Britain’s oldest gunpowder manufacturing sites, powering the mills that supplied powder for centuries. What was once an industrial landscape has been reimagined into something entirely different: a creative retreat, wellness destination, members’ club, hotel, restaurant and country pub rolled into one beautifully considered experience. 

Even the name tells a story. The team chose Crafted because it reflects a simple but increasingly rare philosophy: we take greater care over things we craft. Whether that is a piece of furniture, a meal, a building or even a life, being crafted is the result of countless small actions, daily habits and intentional decisions repeated over time until something develops character and meaning. Spend even a few hours here and that ethos becomes clear. Nothing feels rushed nor accidental; every space, object and experience has really been considered.

The vision comes from Chris King, co-founder of the original Birch hotel, whose pioneering approach to blending hospitality, creativity, wellness and community helped reshape expectations of what a modern hotel could be. Crafted feels like the natural evolution of that thinking. Less a hotel, more a place designed to help people step away from autopilot and reconnect with nature, creativity and each other. The result feels refreshingly difficult to categorise. If Soho Farmhouse decamped to East Sussex and developed a fascination with contemporary art, craftsmanship and slow living, it might look something like this.

©Euan Baker

Arriving at Crafted feels deliberately unhurried. The drive winds through mature trees before opening onto a landscape of water, woodland and heritage buildings. Should you choose to travel by train, the station is at the end of the drive and the estate’s VW camper bus runs shuttle services. At the heart of the vast acres of grounds sits the elegant Georgian manor house; the estate’s architectural anchor. Its handsome proportions and period character provide a striking counterpoint to the contemporary maker-led interiors now found throughout the property. There is no grand hotel pomp here. Instead, in-the-know corporates – who descend for unique team days – practised members and intrigued overnight guests combine in an atmosphere of relaxed, creative and calm confidence.

Design also plays a huge role in the Crafted story. House of Dré, the award-winning multi-disciplinary design studio led by Andreas Christodoulou, has shaped the look and feel of both the bedrooms and communal spaces. The aesthetic is warm, tactile and grounding. Muted earthy hues are punctuated with confident flashes of burnt orange, while natural woods, textured fabrics and artisan-made pieces complete the look that also changes the vibe from hotel to creative residence.

The further you look, the more layers reveal themselves. Bespoke wooden furniture by Sebastian Cox sits effortlessly alongside beautiful linen pieces from House of Quinn. Woven blankets by Warp add softness and texture, while a striking trio of acrylic artworks by Evergood inject colour and personality. Lamps and room numbers by Holly Dawes bring playful contemporary touches, mirrors by Keiran Letts add sculptural elegance and handcrafted vases by Alistair Laburnum reinforce the property’s celebration of makers and craftsmanship as well as its connection with nature.

The same philosophy extends beyond the interiors. Workshops, seasonal experiences and maker-led programming encourage guests to engage, create and participate. Combined with the members’ club ethos, this creates a refreshing sense of community. 

©Euan Baker

The wellness offering follows the same thoughtful approach. Rather than a conventional spa built around treatment rooms and timetables, Crafted embraces a more natural relationship with wellbeing. Guests can move between the gym and studio spaces, take a dip in the outdoor pool, brave a cold-water swim in the lake or warm up afterwards in the lakeside sauna overlooking the estate. There is something wonderfully uncomplicated about it all. No wellness jargon, just a great timetable of, amongst others, breathwork, yoga and padel – for which there are branded hoodies available for an extra sense of togetherness.

The kitchen garden reinforces the connection to nature. Sat at the top of the estate next to the resident chickens, it supplies top-growing ingredients for the kitchen (the soil’s clay scuppering the growth of root veg which is sourced from just down the road), as well as offering a gentle reminder of Crafted’s uncompromising approach to creating connection between place, people and produce.

As evening arrived we headed to the pub. Also open to the public and offering a more-laid back dining experience than the main restaurant, much like the estate as a whole, it manages to feel both elevated and approachable. There is a proper bar counter with pub tables next to an orangery style conservatory, the spaces hum with conversation and it operates with easy confidence. Dishes, which have a British gastropub lean, take you effortlessly from warm breads with shallot butter to crispy Scotch egg bursting with local sausage meat and softly yielding yolk, and some rather standout aubergine and Ashmore croquettes. Hearty mains of aged ribeye (perfectly medium rare) and the house burger – a triumph of handmade steak mince, lashings of cheese and a clever tomato and chilli relish – left us sated. Of course, we also snuck in a pud, lured by an adjacent table recommendation of the new chocolate tart which was creamy, soft and packed with flavour accompanied by lashings of clotted cream – this is wellness with a community, creative lean rather than wholegrain clean eating (hurrah!), remember.

©Milo Hutchings

After a rather pleasant slumber, aided by a cold plunge, lake dip and sauna session (and a spicy margarita or two), we had the pleasure of breakfast in the main restaurant. A wonderful mix of high ceilings, muted colours and greenery, punctuated by pops of leopard print cushions and views of the Miami beach-esque outdoor pool, the farmhouse table offered a plentiful mix of freshly squeezed juices, wellness shots, pastries, cheese and fruits. While the thoughtful mix of cooked breakfast options from Crafted’s full English to eggs hollandaise and smoked trout with scrambled eggs reinforced that actually we weren’t really quite ready to leave.

It wasn’t just a dish or a design detail, it was the whole feel of the place that you become drawn into, even if reluctantly. Crafted feels curious and it invites exploration. One minute you’re admiring contemporary art, the next wandering beside the lake in search of the resident pigs, before discussing cold water plunges, local produce and modern art over dinner, all the while wondering if the journey is too far to become a member.

In a hospitality landscape increasingly dominated by formulas, Crafted is forging its own path. It only opened in November, so this will be its first summer in operation and it is constantly evolving as it navigates its journey. Part members’ club, part creative campus, part wellness retreat, part country estate hotel, part country pub, in full, however, it is one of the most intriguing new openings in the South East.

staycrafted.com