Nobu has confirmed its first countryside hotel, partnering with the existing Woolfox members’ club in Rutland to develop Nobu Woolfox: a hotel, signature restaurant and branded residences set across 185 acres near Stamford.
Nobu announced on 6 May 2026 that it will rebrand and redevelop Woolfox, the wellness-led members’ club founded in 2020 and set in 185 acres of Rutland countryside near the Georgian town of Stamford. The site will reopen as Nobu Woolfox, a destination and members club that combines lake-view rooms and suites, a signature Nobu restaurant and bar, branded residences, a spa, and dedicated wellness and leisure facilities. No opening date has yet been confirmed.
This is the first time Nobu has placed its brand outside an urban or coastal setting. The group is concurrently developing a £360m mixed-use scheme in Manchester, also comprising a Nobu hotel, a Nobu restaurant and Nobu-branded residences, and the contrast between the two projects is the point. Where Manchester is a city-centre statement aimed at the corporate and leisure traveller, Woolfox is positioned as a rural retreat: a property defined by quiet, landscape and members-club intimacy rather than skyline.
Rutland is the kind of location corporate event organisers tend to overlook because it doesn’t fit the usual list. Nobu placing its first countryside property here changes that calculation. A signature Nobu restaurant, branded residences and a private members club in 185 acres, all within a comfortable drive of London, the Midlands and the North, is a meaningful addition to the UK’s leadership-event landscape. Alex Barlow, Head of Operations & Strategy, Bien Venue
For corporate event buyers, the appeal sits in three places. The setting itself, with 185 acres of landscaped grounds, a lake and adjacent walking country, supports the kind of leadership offsite or executive retreat that doesn’t work in a city-centre property. The branded residences open up a private-buyout proposition for board-level programmes that need accommodation, dining and meeting space under one ownership. And the Nobu restaurant gives an evening anchor that works as a closing dinner without needing to leave site. Pair that with the existing Woolfox wellness programming and the property covers the full executive-retreat brief in a single estate.
The wider context matters too. Nobu has spent the past five years pushing into the UK with the Portman Square London property, Nobu Shoreditch, the Manchester development, and now Rutland, signalling a deliberate move beyond gateway cities. For agencies sourcing premium UK venues, the practical effect is a wider geographic footprint of properties that share a recognisable service standard.
Nobu Woolfox has not announced a relaunch date. Corporate event organisers looking at premium countryside venues for 2026 and 2027 programmes can enquire through bvevents.co.uk.
About Bien Venue
Bien Venue is a Manchester-based boutique venue finding, event management and accommodation agency. We help corporate event organisers source and manage venues across the UK and internationally, supported by our proprietary BV Portal and Venue Directory.
Bring us your brief.
The properties we write about are the kind of venues we place clients at every week. If you’re sourcing for a similar event, send the requirements through and we’ll come back with a shortlist that fits the brief, not a directory dump.
Free to use. No account needed. Curated shortlists prepared by consultants, not a search algorithm.
