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Farington Lodge
Conveniently located close to the M6, M61 and M65 motorways, it sits in a quiet rural spot with rolling Lancashire countryside beyond making it ideal for conferences, meetings, weddings and a peaceful break not far from the best sightseeing in the North West, including the stunning Lake District National Park.
Enjoy 27 comfortable bedrooms, including a four poster room, and a range of elegant reception rooms, many in the grand style of the original building – perfect for special occasions.
Our Garden Restaurant and The Balmoral Lounge are open daily for lunch, dinner, afternoon tea and bar snacks.
We look forward to welcoming you to Farington Lodge.
Susan Standring
General Manager
Our Story…
The Farington Lodge Hotel is a grand Grade II listed Georgian Country House.
It was built in the 1830’s as a family home for Mr William Bashall, business partner of Mr William Boardman in the massive Farington Cotton Mill.
After William Bashall’s death in 1871 Farington Lodge became the home of Montague Copland J.P. and his family, until 1901 when William McMinnies the then managing director of Bashall and Boardman Ltd and his family moved in. The next incumbent was Arthur Carrington J.P. of Carrington & Dewhurst Ltd later known as Carrington Viyella.
From 1911 until after his death in 1931, the occupants of Farington Lodge were distinguished businessman Mr James Todd JP and his family. Mr Todd was a wealthy accountant with offices in Blackpool, Chester, London, Manchester and Winckley Square, Preston. Before the Russian revolution he also had offices in Moscow. Mr Todd was also a director of the Sunbeam Motor Company and as such, from the very early development of cars the Todd family had at least one car at their disposal. Mr Todd was famous in the area for being chauffeur driven to his Preston office in his magnificent car.
Upon his death, (which unfortunately coincided with a huge slump in the value of cotton shares in which much of his wealth was invested,) the Todd family met with financial ruin.
A friend of Mr Todd was Henry Spurrier, the first managing director of Leyland Motors. About the time of Mr Todd’s death Mr Spurrier was looking for somewhere suitable for “special” visitors to Leyland Motors to stay when they needed overnight accommodation and he had an idea which he hoped would help both Mrs Todd and himself. He asked if she would be willing to allow Company guests to use some of her bedrooms and for her to act as hostess – for which Leyland Motors would pay her appropriately.
The arrangement worked well – the Leyland Motor’s guests enjoyed their beautiful surroundings and Mrs Todd had some financial support. So popular had Farington Lodge become with the Leyland Motors guests that when the company learned that Mrs Todd wanted to leave the area they asked her to let them purchase the estate. They paid her just £7,000 for the house including 23 acres of land, a farm, garages and laundry. And so Farington Lodge, the happy family home of the Todd family for 21 years, became Leyland Motors Guest House – telephone number 21.
Leyland Motors used Farington Lodge primarily as a venue for visiting Directors and dignitaries which included HRH Prince Edward and Mrs Simpson, HM The Queen Mother and HRH Prince Philip.
Farington Lodge went into private ownership in 1989 following the insolvency of Leyland DAF, with the current owners taking over in 1994. HRH Princess Diana visited in 1992 and since March 2001 we have had the privilege of welcoming HRH The Princess Royal to several gala dinners in aid of the Princess Royal Trust for Carers. The first of these dinners took place in a marquee situated to the side of the lodge in our magnificent gardens where the Jubilee Suite now stands. Following this successful event HRH Princess Anne returned to the hotel for the official opening of the new Jubilee suite, in October 2002.
Since 2002 the Jubilee suite has played host to hundreds of weddings and dinners including a further three gala dinners to which HRH Princess Anne attended as guest of honour. In the October 2005 we were also pleased to welcome HRH’s daughter Zara Tindall to a Red Cross charity dinner.
Having recently undergone enhancement in 2007 Farrington Lodge now enjoys an entirely new reception area and a spacious new lounge and bar that is open all day for light meals, coffee and pastries and sumptuous cream teas.
The new building also contains 27 bedrooms, all decorated and furnished in the same luxurious Georgian style as those in the original part of the hotel. Each of the hotel’s 27 bedrooms has everything the leisure or business traveller needs for a comfortable stay from home and wireless broadband is available throughout the hotel and on the terraces.