Meetings, moments and experiences with purpose

Horwood House is a place where people gather: for meetings, conferences, weddings, celebrations, team days, charity events, community projects and creative experiences.

The Gathering Room pillar is about making those moments more meaningful. It brings together our meeting and event spaces, Crisis Charity Coffee Lounge, Package with a Purpose, local makers, arts and crafts fairs, green team-building activities and community gatherings.

We want guests and clients to leave Horwood House feeling that their time here has supported something bigger.

The Crisis Charity Coffee Lounge

Our Crisis Charity Coffee Lounge was created in partnership with national homelessness charity Crisis and award-winning upcycling company Recoup.

The space was transformed using salvaged, restored and repurposed materials. A 17th-century bed headboard was used as wall panelling, representing those who do not have a safe bed of their own. Light fittings were made using antique buckets, repurposed tree branches and naturally plaited rope. Second-hand furniture was carefully chosen to give the space warmth, character and purpose.

When available, the lounge opens as a co-working space for locals to enjoy.

This project connects design, reuse, hospitality and social impact. It also links directly to our room-servicing opt-out initiative, through which we have donated over £30,000 to Crisis UK.

Package with a Purpose

For corporate clients, we offer Package with a Purpose: a way to add a sustainability and charity element to meetings and events.

This can include:

  • Upcycled furniture and materials
  • Vintage mismatched china, plates, bowls, serving dishes, cutlery and crockery
  • Items purchased from local charity shops, including Willen Hospice
  • Charity partner talks or involvement
  • Biodiversity activities
  • Honey and beekeeping workshops
  • Outdoor wellbeing sessions
  • Habitat-building activities
  • Dog walking with local charity partners

The aim is to help corporate clients support their own CSR commitments while giving back to local causes.

Previous corporate clients, including PwC, have taken part in activities with Urban Bee-lievers, learning about the on-site beehive, hearing from the charity and taking part in honey extraction.

We now hope to expand our habitat teepee project into a corporate team-building activity, giving delegates the chance to build practical wildlife shelters across the estate.

Green Meetings and Events

Our meeting and event facilities support more responsible ways to gather.

We offer:

  • Hybrid meeting capability
  • Electronic alternatives to flip charts
  • Recycled meeting supplies
  • In-house audio-visual equipment to reduce transport needs
  • Chef’s Choice menu options
  • Reusable glass water bottles
  • Filtered still and sparkling water
  • Recycled and upcycled furniture where possible
  • Dedicated recycling improvements planned for meeting and syndicate rooms

We are also exploring carbon-footprint measurement for meeting menus and future client-facing carbon offset options for stays and events.

Our green team-building activities include wildflower planting, outdoor yoga, honey and beekeeping workshops, habitat building, nature trail challenges, dog walking with charity partners and garden-based experiences.

Arts and Crafts Fair

We host a free Arts and Crafts Fair twice a year, supporting over 60 local artisans and welcoming more than 600 visitors.

Now in its third successful year, this event gives local makers, artists and creative businesses a platform to exhibit free of charge, while opening the hotel to the wider community.

We have also partnered with MK College Art Department, whose students will be designing a children’s book based on stories from our beekeepers.

Looking ahead, MK College horticultural students will take part in a “Dragons’ Den” style pitch to create a natural sculpture for our gardens, with the winning commission paid for by Horwood House. We hope to make this an annual project, giving students real work experience, creative opportunity and paid recognition.

Gathering for the Community

We regularly support local school events, church events, village events and charity fundraising through donations, prizes, meeting space and staff time.

Where possible, we offer meeting space free of charge for local schools, charities and their staff to use for planning sessions, meetings and community work.

We have also provided our grounds free of charge for local school events, such as Easter Egg Hunts.

For us, being a gathering place means opening our doors not only to guests, but also to the community around us.

The Break Out Space Making a Difference

Horwood House have teamed up with national homeless charity Crisis and upcycling company Recoup to transform our syndicate break-out space into a creative and crafted space for our delegate guests to enjoy as well as partnering with them in a few other ways.

The volunteers and members have carefully restored some spectacular furniture to its former glory and in some cases completely repurposed items to create unique and wonderful creations – shabby chic at its best! Yes, the wall panelling is antique French headboards!

This wonderful space is found underneath our largest room, the Cook Suite and between our syndicate meeting rooms. This area has a separate private entrance to the main hotel and was a ‘forgotten’ space that is now a quirky and fun space that will bring character to any event!

Fuelling Delegates and Rebuilding Lives

Crisis work side by side with homeless people to help them rebuild their lives. From decades of experience, they know what’s needed to leave homelessness behind for good. Through education, training and support with housing, employment and health, offering one-to-one courses and advice for homeless people nationally, Crisis aim to end homelessness for good.

We are so excited to have worked with them on this fantastic project and continue to partner with them by purchasing their Crisis coffee beans to fuel our delegates in this specially designed space. We are proud to have contributed £38,000 (to date) to Crisis UK, supporting not only hot meals but also essential programs that help people access shelter, mental health care, education, and employment opportunities. Our vision is to be the go-to destination for hospitality from the heart and this project is a big part of that. Alongside our friendly-yet-attentive service and thoughtful touches, our close-knit team and community ties, we are a hotel with a BIG HEART.

We will also be encouraging visitors to the lounge to donate directly to them and help support this wonderful cause.

Coworking Space

Need somewhere to work remotely? We are keen to utilise this fantastic space as much as possible especially as it helps support our donations through the coffee we use. Therefore, when available, the Crisis Charity Coffee Lounge is open as a Coworking Space for locals to enjoy. For just £15 a day you can enjoy unlimited tea, coffee and biscuits in a creative environment.

Call on the day to book – 01296 722100

Forget fresh towels - donate a hot meal to someone in need!

Also, as part of our commitment to supporting Crisis UK, from March 2023 onwards, we are encouraging hotel guests to opt out of room servicing during their stay of 2 nights or more. Instead of having their room serviced daily, guests can choose to skip this service and for every night guests opt out, the equivalent donation of one hot meal will be made to the charity (per night of their stay).