Celebrating 50 Years!
Celebrating 50 Years!
This year the team at Stoke by Nayland Resort (SbN) is excited to be celebrating the 50th anniversary of its Golf Club.
SbN Resort will be celebrating its golden year with an array of events, activities and offers for the local community, guests, team and members to enjoy. From gala dinners to a family fun day and 70s night, there’ll be something for everyone.
Founded in 1972 by Bill and Devora Peake, and now run by the next-generation family, the business has been impressively developed over the years, complimenting the stunning Constable Country landscape surrounding the Resort. What started as a dream has blossomed into the successful Resort we see today, boasting two spectacular, mature championship golf courses, an 80-bedroom hotel, five contemporary eco-lodges, a fabulous Spa, Technogym and an array of fantastic restaurants, celebrating locally sourced ingredients and suppliers.
To mark the occasion in style, our Golf Team has been busy creating a limited edition memorabilia collection.
Shop the clothing range here: https://www.glenmuirpro.com/orderform/aA0LJ3aOIJtNKSBC
The 50th Anniversary of Stoke by Nayland Golf Club was celebrated in style with a grand dinner for 200 invited guests in the Devora Suite on 10th September 2022.
In the early 1970s entrepreneur farmers, Bill and Devora Peake, saw an opportunity to transform some of their picturesque, undulating arable land into golf courses as there was a shortage of golf clubs in the region. So they persuaded their bank to support them with the initial costs and were possibly the first farmers in the country to diversify from farming into golf.
Bill and Devora, who were both by now in their 50s, had also diversified from fruit growing into fruit juice production and created the Copella apple juice brand in in their farmhouse kitchen in 1969. Their daughters Susanna and Tamara and husbands Stephen and Roger also joined them in the business.
The new Stoke by Nayland Golf Club building and 18 hole championship Gainsborough course were completed in 1972. Bill and Devora initially interviewed prospective members in their farmhouse sitting room, and then in a caravan in the new Golf Club car park, until the clubhouse had been completed. Very quickly the membership filled up and the Peakes decided to build a second championship course in 1978 which they named the Constable course after another famous local artist.
Over the next 27 years, Stoke by Nayland Golf Club became known as one of the finest in East Anglia. Devora’s son, Jonathan Loshak, returned home from the USA to manage the Golf Club from 1974 until the early 1990s. Sadly Bill Peake died in 1979 just after completing the Constable Course.
Susanna Rendall, Jonathan’s sister, took over as Managing Director of the Golf Club in 1994 and their sister Tamara Unwin also joined a couple of years later as Sales and Marketing Director. Then in 1999, after the family sold Copella Fruit Juices, the expansion programme and transformation to a Hotel, Golf & Spa Resort began.
The new facilities eventually included an 80-bedroom hotel, conference and banqueting suites, spa and fitness complex, additional bars and dining areas and a golf driving range. The creation of five beautiful, self-catering, eco-lodges expanded our accommodation offering in 2012.
Over the years we’ve welcomed many famous faces to Stoke by Nayland from the worlds of golf, football and beyond.
Stoke by Nayland has hosted a range of prestigious, International televised golf events which have included the European Seniors Tour, European Challenge Tour, Sir Nick Faldo’s World Challenge, the EuroPro Tour and WPGA Access Series.
None of this would have been possible without the invaluable support of our wonderful team, members and guests and our heartfelt thanks go out to all of them.
SbN Resort has become a sought-after destination for golf breaks, spa & leisure breaks, excellent dining, weddings, celebrations and self-catered lodge escapes. There is something for everyone at SbN, and with plans for even more facilities already on the horizon, we are really excited about the next 50 years…