Housed in a Grade II-listed 18th-century building[1] located near Kintbury, between Hungerford and Newbury, The Retreat is a 55 bedroom hotel set in 16 acres (6.5 ha) of grounds.

The Elcot Park estate was purchased by Anthony Bushby Bacon (1772 - 1827), the son of a wealthy Welsh industrialist,[2] from Charles Dundas, 1st Baron Amesbury, a prominent landowner from nearby Barton Court.

There also was a walled kitchen garden with a range of glasshouses, including four greenhouses for vines and peaches, and also a pine pit heated with hot water.

[citation needed] His son, Charles Bacon, bought the house in 1831 after clearing the debts, but seemed to continue to have financial difficulties as he had to sell the property in 1844.

[citation needed] During the early years of the Second World War, a Hampshire family, the Bramley Firths from Silchester, became tenants.

[citation needed] As interest rates rose Mr Katzler decided to sell the property rather than continue his expansion and redevelopment plans.

[citation needed] The restaurant was redecorated and extended and a new conservatory was built to replace the original one, which had been destroyed in the great storm of 1987.

Renamed The Retreat at Elcot Park, the hotel re-opened in June 2022, with a ribbon cutting ceremony carried out by the Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire, James Puxley, over the Platinum Jubilee weekend.

There are 55 bedrooms including three suites, named after Percy Shelley, Anthony Bushby Bacon and Sir Richard Sutton.