Fine wine collection gathering dust in abandoned Somerset hotel

Valuable bottles of fine wine have been left languishing in an abandoned hotel, shrouded in dust, since the venue ceased operating during the Covid pandemic. 

The Ston Easton Park Hotel in Bath has been closed for the last four years, and is currently up for sale.

It also has a touch of the Miss Havershams as the dusty bottles populating its fully-stocked bar and wine cellar have been left in a state of purgatory, patiently waiting for the sound of a corkscrew, since it locked its doors in 2020.

Once the family home of Tory politician Jacob Rees-Mogg, the property became a hotel when it was purchased in the 1970s, and has been used as a filming location for several period dramas due to its grand facade.

Sadly, it was forced to shut up shop following financial difficulties caused by the Covid pandemic, and was put up for sale in December 2021 for a guide price of £6,000,000.

The agents representing the sale of the 250-year-old Palladian mansion are targeting buyers looking for “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create something magical”.

An urban explorer (someone who accesses and investigates places not generally open to the public) who goes by the name of @urbecs on Tik Tok, has managed to gain entry to the abandoned hotel, which is protected by guard dogs, and photograph some of the bottles inside.

Included in the hotel’s premium stash is a jeroboam of Mumm Champagne in the cellar (approximate retail price £212).

Also included on the restaurant’s wine list are 80 expressions, ranging from £26 for a bottle of Elevé Malbec produced in the Pays d’Oc, to £345 for a 2004 Cristal Champagne and £398 for a half of 2001 Yquem.

Further listed bottles include the 1996 Hermitage Rouge from the Rhône’s Domaine Jean-Louis Chave; Williams Selyem Allen Vineyard Chardonnay 1999 from the Sonoma Coast; and from the Veneto a 2009 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico, Corte Saibante, Poggi.

St Emilion’s Chateau Haut-Gros-Caillon 2010 also features.

On the back bar inside the Yellow Dining Room and Cocktail Bar bottles of Hennessy, Campari, Bacardi, Disaronno and Jose Cuervo can clearly be seen.

It is not known whether the contents of the cellar are included in the property sale.