The Celtic Manor

I photographed a Ruby Wedding party at The Celtic Manor last Friday, so with the weather sunny and dry, I returned to get ths picture.

The Celtic Manor, Newport, South Wales, UK., is situate on junction 24 of The M4 (The Coldra Roundabout). It was the venue for the 2010 Ryder Cup, the first to be held in Wales, and hosted the 2014 NATO summit. It is owned by Sir Terry Matthews (born in Newport) and covers 2,000 acres.
It is one of the UK's premier hotels with an International Golf course (two), conference centre, spa, a couple of country clubs and six restaurants among some of its facilities.

The earliest record of a building on the resort site was 1634, when it was the residence of the High Sheriff of Monmouthshire, Lewis Van (who owned Van mansion which I took a picture of a couple of days ago). The Original Manor house was built in 1860; it ended up as Lydia Beynon Maternity hospital with 60,000 babies born there, including Sir Terry matthews! It closed on 1 March 1977 and became derelict.

I remember seeing the mansion for the first time in 1978, when it was up for sale for about £80K. I fancied buying but it, but it was obvious it needed that much again to make it habitable. Sir Terry bought it in 1980 and has spent in the region of £160 million renovating the original manor, developing the hotel, buying further land and building, plus development of the golf courses, etc.

It's certainly put Newport on the UK map and no doubt helped Newport to gain city status in 2002, to mark Queen Elizabeth 11 Golden Jubilee; the year I was granted Her Jubilee Medal.