{"id":38121,"date":"2025-08-01T12:42:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T12:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/38121\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T12:42:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T12:42:08","slug":"new-plan-for-gypsy-millionaire-alfie-bests-sapey-golf-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/38121\/","title":{"rendered":"New plan for gypsy millionaire Alfie Best’s Sapey Golf Club"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Sapey Golf Club, near the Worcestershire border north of Bromyard, was previously part of Mr Best\u2019s Wyldecrest Parks company, which bought it in 2017<\/a>\u00a0and which still owns the nearby Saltmarshe Castle residential park.\n<\/p>\n

\n Covering around 80 hectares in total, the 18- and nine-hole courses, clubhouse and four holiday lodges were offered for sale a year ago by agents Savills<\/a> for a guide price of \u00a31.8 million, changing hands earlier this year.\n<\/p>\n

\n RELATED NEWS:\n<\/p>\n

\n Now Brett Walton of Great Witley has made a full planning application (number 251707<\/a>) seeking permission to turn it into a family home and guest facility.\n<\/p>\n

\n Explaining why the club had struggled, his application says that \u201cfor such enterprises to be successful the courses have to be open for playing virtually the whole year round\u201d, but the area\u2019s heavy clay soil \u201cmade this difficult with climate change\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n Mr Walton and his family now \u201cwish to use the clubhouse as a base\u201d by converting ground-floor storerooms into an accommodation block of three bedrooms with bathroom.\n<\/p>\n

\n What are your thoughts?\n<\/p>\n

\n You can send a letter to the editor to have your say by clicking here<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n Letters should not exceed 250 words and local issues take precedence.\n<\/p>\n

\n The remainder of the ground floor, comprising offices, shop and reception area, will be largely unchanged, while upstairs, the existing dining and function room likewise \u201cwill remain, staffed by cooks using the large catering kitchen\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n The clubhouse exterior will also be \u201clittle altered\u201d while a garage and workshop with large maintenance yard will also remain, along with the four holiday lodges on the former nine-hole course across the road.\n<\/p>\n

\n Mr Walton intends \u201cto create bridleway-type paths through the former golf holes\u201d, allowing guests to \u201cwalk long distances though treed countryside and to ride horses over an extensive area of private land\u201d, while \u201ckeeping a few fairways for guests\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n OTHER NEWS:\n<\/p>\n

\n Both former courses will also be open to locals \u201cwho wish to enjoy the beautiful treed areas\u201d, his application adds.\n<\/p>\n

\n Along with Mr Walton and his wife, the repurposed site will employ two grounds staff, a maintenance person, two cooks and four cleaners and \u201cseveral part-time helpers\u201d, which together with office and shop staff \u201cmeans up to a dozen local people will be needed\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n Comments on the application can be made until August 29.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sapey Golf Club, near the Worcestershire border north of Bromyard, was previously part of Mr Best\u2019s Wyldecrest Parks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-38121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}