East Sussex, United Kingdom

Crafted at Powdermills

Price per night from$304.02

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (GBP222.71), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Crafted at Powdermills Photos

Style

Creative in nature

Setting

Battle's bucolic borders

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Crafted at Powdermills’ heritage (as a former gunpowder plant close to Battle) implies unrest, but the East Sussex hotel and members’ club is now enjoying a boom era due to its BPM-calming traits. In Crafted’s arsenal are frolics in and around its vast lake, immersion in its rewilded woodland, and opportunities to learn and grow with local craftspeople and wellness experts. A softly-goes approach, sustainable dining and sense-of-place decor give you plenty of bang for your buck — figuratively speaking.

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Facilities

Photos Crafted at Powdermills facilities

Need to know

Rooms

51, including 13 suites and three standalone lakeside cottages.

Check–Out

11am; check-in, 3pm. Both are flexible, subject to availability and a charge of £100.

More details

Rates include a buffet breakfast with plenty of Sussex produce, plus a selection of hot dishes and free electric-vehicle shuttles to and from Battle (can be scheduled on request).

Also

The hotel’s layout is navigable in a wheelchair (although there are stone steps and uneven areas in the grounds), and it has five ground-floor rooms that are suitable if you have some mobility: two Cosy rooms, one Heritage room and two Junior Suites. Only one is fully adapted, with a roll-in shower, grab bars and a lowered toilet and sink.

At the hotel

Lake with kayaks; 78 acres of woodland; alfresco sauna, ice bath and hot tub; crafting cabin; padel court; gym and studio for classes; lounges; co-working space with privacy pods; wellies to borrow, and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: Roberts radios, welcome hamper, tea- and coffee-making kit, free bottled water, bathrobes, slippers and bespoke Verden bath products. Suites (and some Junior Suites) have a free minibar; Suites also have coffee machines and TVs; and cottages come with a welcome hamper. And the cottages and Lake House all have a full kitchen.

Our favourite rooms

The hotel’s medley of building styles and embarassment of beautiful settings mean that rooms can vary wildly — although the colour-saturated House of Dré decor is consistently cool. Suites with dainty alfresco decks have dopamine-hit views and are just a short, berobed wander from the woodland spa area. Plus, they have free minibars to raid and a separate sitting area. Families and groups of wellness-seeking friends will love the lacustrine seclusion of the trad-on-the-outside, coolly-colourful-within cottages — the Lake House has its own private pool and overwater deck.

Poolside

A section of the lake has been roped off into a lido area (open 7am to 7pm) for bracing wild swims; or there’s a seasonal, more conventional, saltwater pool (open 7am to 8pm from April to September), set in the grassy courtyard just outside of the restaurant.

Spa

Trade forest bathing for woodland wallowing here, with a lakeside sauna (must be booked for private or communal sessions), alfresco cold plunge and wood-fired hot tub available (best enjoyed in sequence). And nature’s remedies get a gentle helping hand from therapists practising massage, facials and reflexology with products from Brit brands Votary and Amly. Set aside from the main building is a well-equipped work-out space with Technogym equipment and a studio for classes from barre to HIIT to various flavours of yoga (book in advance of your stay).

Packing tips

Mud-resistant clothing and shoes will make your stay less messy. Bring the vessels you use to capture creative sparks (a notebook, sketchpad, your Macbook) and save some suitcase space for gorgeous ceramic and wood pieces by Holly Dawes and Alistair Laburnan.

Also

The hotel’s convivial co-working space (open to members and guests only) is stylish enough to fuel collective creativity; it has privacy pods, too.

Pet‐friendly

Dogs can stay at Crafted in designated rooms (please note, no suites are pet-friendly) for £30 a night, but they must be kept on a lead in communal areas. They’re not allowed in the restaurant or Green Room and mustn’t be left unattended. See more pet-friendly hotels in East Sussex.

Children

Kids can stay but must accompanied and aren't allowed in the restaurant or members’ area after 7pm; from age 12 and up, they’re charged as an adult. The hotel is welcoming but geared more towards parents who need a breather.

Sustainability efforts

Crafted at Powdermills is cultivating a healthy wetland environment by taking a step back to let nature do its thing. Aside from gently rambling guests, intervention is minimal, letting the existing flora and fauna thrive to create grounds as wild and healthy as those in pre-agricultural Britain, primed to capture harmful greenhouse gases (staff will closely monitor carbon emissions). Guests will be nourished by the land, too, with the hotel’s ‘field-, forest- and fungus-to-plate' ethos and produce coming from its own farm (in the works). Menus celebrate British produce, much from Sussex. There are no single-use plastics, recycling and composting is dutifully done, and many furnishing are reclaimed; plus — as the name suggests — local craftspeople have found a supportive showcase here.

Food and Drink

Photos Crafted at Powdermills food and drink

Top Table

The restaurant’s banquette is best for people-watching; and for drinks there are many picturesque perches, some sheltered but still with green views. Staff can also pack picnics or set up long, beautifully dressed tables by the lake for private meals.

Dress Code

Fresh from your rambles in the hotel’s more casual dining spots; freshen up for the main restaurant.

Hotel restaurant

Crafted at Powdermills’ restaurant menu plucks produce from the ‘garden of England’ (Kent, that is), casts a wide net across the Sussex coast and sips from the wellsprings of the region's vineyards. The main restaurant revolves around a buzzy banquette centrepiece in a conservatory-style space, with lofty greenery and serene views. Snack on gougères plumped with Ashmore cheese or beef tartare on dripping potato cakes snowed under with truffle shavings. Or go big on hearty meat, fish and plant-based mains, and linger for the freshly baked brown-butter Madeleines. There’s also a more casual lunching spot and the pub, where you can fill up on Scotch eggs, sausage rolls, oysters and other picky bits.

Hotel bar

With a roaring fire and custom, vintage-style signage, the pub encourages you to settle in and sample the all-time grapes of Sussex and Kentish wines; or perhaps some classic cocktails and local pints from Brewing Brothers. You’ll have access (along with members) to the Green Room cocktail lounge, a more glamorous hangout (open Friday and Saturday till midnight), with an atmosphere enlivened by musicians and DJs. The emerald-hued, art-packed library and light-drenched, fire-warmed parlour are inviting for gatherings, too.

Last orders

n the main restaurant, breakfast is served from 7am to 10.30am; lunch is served, noon to 2.30pm on Sundays; dinner, from 5.30pm to 9.30pm from Thursday to Monday. The pub menu runs daily from noon to 9.30pm. Drinks flow till 11pm.

Location

Photos Crafted at Powdermills location
Address
Crafted at Powdermills
Powdermill Lane Battle
East Sussex
TN33 0SP
United Kingdom

Crafted at Powdermills sits beside a lake at the leafy edge of historic town Battle in a picturesque part of East Sussex.

Planes

London Gatwick is the closest major hub to the hotel — from there you can drive to Crafted in an hour or get a train direct to Hastings (around a 90-minute journey), change for Battle and then have the hotel’s free electric shuttle pick you up (can be scheduled if requested in advance). Heathrow, Luton and Stansted are each around a two-hour drive away.

Trains

Battle (a five-minute drive from the hotel) is on the Southeastern rail network, and trains run direct from London Bridge, Charing Cross and Waterloo East direct (all around a 90-minute trip).

Automobiles

You could happily stay on-site and let the greenery and alfresco wellness revive you — and the shuttle take you back and forth to Battle. But if you want to explore the surrounding beauty spots, coastal towns (Brighton’s buzz is an hour’s drive away for a two-stop trip) and wineries, you’ll need some wheels. There are several free carparks at the hotel, with EV charging points.

Worth getting out of bed for

Nature? Nurture? There’s no need to pick a side at Crafted at Powdermills, where the two collide like a leaf falling on grass. Kayaking and paddleboarding on the lake, woodland trails (ask for maps at reception) and after-dark bioluminescence walks work in psychological symbiosis with arts and crafts classes (held in a cabin tucked away in the trees), pottery sessions and lessons in preserving and pickling, to send you home feeling as deeply grounded as the hotel’s ancient trees. You can also enjoy friendly games of padel on two courts (seasonal times vary; book two weeks in advance), and the hotel will soon have its own small farm. 

Nearby, Battle has the battlefield where the Normans were victorious in 1066; Hastings has a renowned contemporary art gallery, smugglers caves to explore, well-stocked vintage shops and classic seaside attractions; and Rye is run through with mediaeval charm (see our full weekend guide), best admired from oft-photographed Mermaid Street.

Local restaurants

The hotel’s restful remoteness means you’ll work your way through their menus; but top culinary finds aren’t too far. A 10-minute drive away, the White Hart Netherfield gets meat straight from its own Homestead Farm and serves inspired small plates, plus many English wines (get to know them via a flight or two). Atop the Hastings Contemporary (a 20-minute drive away), Coquina makes an art form of tapas dishes (sobrasada with quince and sherry onions, beetroot in vermouth vinegar) — sister restaurant Bayte is equally lauded — and along the coast, in St Leonards-on-Sea, St Clement’s Restaurant favours very fine produce (largely succulent seafood) accompanied by friendly service.

Local cafés

Holy Mackerel in Battle is a fishmonger where you can taste just how fresh catches are in a variety of small plates and platters of oysters (the latter also served at Crafted). Recent Battle High Street arrival Fornello serves chunky Italian deli sandwiches, antipasti plates and maritozzi cream buns (on weekends); come evenings, it has a select edit of pastas. 

Local bars

Locals say Hastings is a ‘drinking town with a fishing problem’, and the number of pubs there adds weight to that adage. Among the best is The Jolly Fisherman, which is delightfully wonky, cosily fire-warmed and well-versed in ales and ciders. Go from slamming tankards to clinking flutes at Noah’s Goat, a brilliant wine shop and bar, with themed, drinks-led events. Each bottle holds something special, but if you’re not sure where to start, owners Nick and Nicky offer ironclad recommendations.  

Reviews

Photos Crafted at Powdermills reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this hit-refresh hotel in East Sussex woodland and unpacked their athleisure wear and Hunter wellies, a full account of their fresh-air break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Crafted at Powdermills… 

Crafted at Powdermills embodies the ‘cool guys don’t look at explosions’ trope — this East Sussex hotel and members’ club has left its incendiary past as a gunpowder plant (which supplied a certain Mr Fawkes) behind it, while the future it faces is assuredly calm. Here, the comparison ends, because there’s actually no drama on the peaceful outskirts of Battle.  

The hotel’s surrounding woodland is a tangle of scenic trails, laced with babbling brooks, and crowned by a crafting cabin, atop a chalk hill. A vast lake is for the active (kayaking, paddleboarding, shivering dips), with a sauna and hot tub on the bank (for the less active). Happily, there’s wellness for land lovers, too, be it cardio from padel or a soul-nurturing pottery class.  

As its name suggests, Crafted’s a cheerleader for local talents, highlighting fine produce and art through its dining and decor, and guests are welcome in members spaces to foster community — so this hero property is no lone wolf. 

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Price per night from $304.02

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