Despite offering travellers a place to sleep, Penn wants to distance the brand from the conventional view of a hotel. In fact, ‘hotel’ is barely used in its branding, which instead refers to Birch as a ‘community’, ‘retreat’, and ‘funfair for adults’.

“We don’t reference ‘hotel’, as it conveys a constrained view in people’s minds of a place where someone goes for a specific function; often to sleep, whilst engaging in activities in the locality,” Penn explains. “There is nothing conventional about what we do, other than the fact that we have bedrooms, with beds.”

Beds aside, Birch will feature a range of conventional and unconventional facilities around the site.

Guests will have access to two restaurants: The Zebra Riding Club, a farm-to-table restaurant offering straightforward dishes, and the casual all-day restaurant Valeries, designed and managed by revered chefs Robin Gill and Ben Rand. The retreat will also offer three indoor wine bars, as well as the outside Lido Bar, and the Juice Bar, which will serve fresh juices made using produce from its farm.

A well-equipped wellness space will feature a gym, spa, and swimming facilities, and those that can’t entirely disconnect will also be able to access co-working spaces.

Birch’s first location will also feature a pottery studio; a bakery; an art studio; a 60-person screening room, which will screen a range of films and documentaries; a music room; and an arcade. Guests will also be able to venture outside and explore its farm and various gardens.

“Birch has loads of things to do under the key pillars of wellness, food, arts and nature,” Penn explains.

Described as ‘immersive infrastructure’, these facilities offer guests numerous ways to immerse themselves in the Birch experience and escape from their normal routine, no matter what interests and hobbies they may have.

Birch’s desire to offer guests an experience goes beyond its facilities. Describing itself as ‘like a hotel’ that ‘feels like a festival’, its main attraction will be a packed calendar of events and activities that it will host for guests year-round.

Wednesdays will feature high-intensity cardio classes in the wellness space, followed by guided meditation sessions in the library on Thursdays. There will also be weekly bakery classes with Birch’s in-house baker, as well as fortnightly beekeeping sessions with the resident beekeeper. A variety of other activities, from glassblowing, to wine-tasting, to spoon carving, and more, will make up a guest’s stay.

But, with relaxation also a key part of the Birch experience, Penn, King, and the rest of the team have strived to find the balance between rest and play.

“Think sourdough baking, mixed with crop growing, mixed with spinning, mixed with a lone walk in the woods finding time to find time,” Penn says.

“The festival world has expanded and evolved massively; food festivals, music festivals, cultural festivals, spiritual festivals and the list goes on. Whatever the festival, you know that the line-up will have been well considered around its target consumer, that the atmosphere will be free and immersive, and that there will be spaces for energy and spaces for peace.

“We have a library with an open fire, as much as we have a DJ set in the main bar.”

The hospitality industry has been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Airlines have been grounded, and hotels have been forced to close their doors. In such unprecedented times, it’s impossible to know when life will return to normal, and whether there will be lasting damage caused to the industry.

Birch has been forced to delay its long-awaited April launch until June. However, it hopes that, after a spell of quarantine and social distancing, it can provide its first guests with the escape that they need now more than ever.

“What we know is that after isolation, numerous box sets and only seeing friends, family and colleagues through a screen, people will be up for getting back together again and reconnecting,” Penn says. “We would love to be the place where that happens.”

But, with relaxation also a key part of the Birch experience, Penn, King, and the rest of the team have strived to find the balance between rest and play.

“Think sourdough baking, mixed with crop growing, mixed with spinning, mixed with a lone walk in the woods finding time to find time,” Penn says.

“The festival world has expanded and evolved massively; food festivals, music festivals, cultural festivals, spiritual festivals and the list goes on. Whatever the festival, you know that the line-up will have been well considered around its target consumer, that the atmosphere will be free and immersive, and that there will be spaces for energy and spaces for peace.

“We have a library with an open fire, as much as we have a DJ set in the main bar.”