A family-run luxury hotel and popular wedding venue in Kent has been forced to close after 36 years, with administrators appointed as the owners stepped back amid personal tragedy and mounting financial pressure.
The Blazing Donkey Country Hotel, near Sandwich, had drawn national attention in 2022 when owner Richard Martin said the business turned down a reported offer of £1,080,000 and a guarantee of 100% occupancy for 12 months to house newly arrived asylum seekers. The 22-bedroom venue, operated by Edenlodge Associates Ltd, has hosted more than 2,000 weddings since it became one of the first sites in the country licensed for outdoor ceremonies in 1999.
In a statement, the family said the business became unsustainable after co-director Sherry Martin was admitted to hospital with an aggressive brain-stem cancer in January and subsequently died at age 63. The couple withdrew from day-to-day operations, and despite "significant and sustained cash injections" from their personal savings, administrators said the hotel could no longer meet overheads while operating only event bookings.
"Immediate action was taken to close all non-event operations so that the team that remained could focus on looking after wedding clients that had already booked," the statement said, adding that the family "extends their deepest regret" for the disruption. The venue said contact details for the appointed administrators would be provided "very soon." Companies House filings for Edenlodge Associates Ltd had not yet shown confirmation of the business entering administration.
Prospective couples due to be married at the venue were told this week that they should not rely on receiving refunds. One bride, Kenna Nicholson, who had paid more than £12,000 for a wedding scheduled for Friday, said administrators warned she would be "lucky" to receive any money back. Nicholson said she had noticed signs of trouble after staff began seeking other work online and after several changes of wedding coordinator.
Restaurant manager Christopher Cooper said staff had feared the move to house asylum seekers would have been a "betrayal" of employees and clients, but he supported the couple's decision not to accept the reported offer. In 2022, Richard Martin told local media that hotels were the wrong location for asylum-seeker accommodation and that accepting the payment would have damaged the venue's reputation and let down couples with bookings.
The Home Office declined to comment on whether it or a third party had made an approach to the Blazing Donkey. The government has been seeking accommodation across the country amid a sustained rise in Channel crossings; more than 50,000 people have crossed the Channel on small boats since last summer, according to government figures cited at the time.
Edenlodge's records list Martin as the sole director and show he incorporated a new property company on Aug. 24 classified as "buying and selling of own real estate." Administrators said the couple tried to keep the venue operating for as long as possible, and that staff remaining in post had delivered all events scheduled after the couple withdrew. Nevertheless, they said, without the wider core business operating alongside events, it was impossible to continue hosting weddings and running the hotel in any form.
The closure leaves an estimated 100 weddings and thousands of hotel and restaurant guests affected each year, according to figures previously provided by the owners. Couples and suppliers are now seeking alternative venues and assessing potential financial losses while awaiting formal contact from administrators about how deposits and payments will be handled.