Simon Temple Bennett, owner of the luxury hotel Augill Castle, and a former director of Cumbria Tourism, has died aged 57 years.
Simon was born in North London in 1967 but soon found himself on the move, in 1970, when his father switched the family business from Kew to the West Country. Simon unfortunately slid on grass and broke his pelvis. With the three-year-old in traction in hospital, parents Jon and Mary decided it was just as well to relocate the family to Somerset.
Simon attended Beehive Preparatory School and then Taunton School. After completing his O-levels he went to Richard Huish Sixth Form College before taking a gap year, working at the County Hotel in Taunton. This was an experience which he enjoyed immensely, particularly serving lunch to his idol, Queen Elizabeth II, and it was to be the beginning of a rich and varied career in the industry. Whilst attending Bournemouth University, he gained further experience during a placement at Gatwick Airport. Graduating in 1990 with a BSc in food and catering management, his hotel career developed rapidly when he took a job in St Helier, Jersey, at the grand Hotel de France, overseeing a major refurbishment, another role he relished. He was then offered a position as restaurant manager at the Royal Garden Hotel in London. He would go on to work in various capacities in hotels around the world in Canada, America, Fiji, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand and Hong Kong.
Returning to London in 1993, Simon re-trained as a journalist, completing a post-graduate diploma, before working at the Northampton Evening Telegraph where, while he and future wife Wendy rented a thatched cottage, he spent several years writing local interest stories. Then after a spell where they took part ownership of a Mayfair restaurant, they decided to swap London for the idyll of Eden, purchasing in 1998 the 12-bedroom Augill Castle, which they would transform into an award-winning hotel and events venue. Simon would also establish himself as a public servant for the region, taking on a number of positions supporting education and the tourism economy, including as a director of Cumbria Tourism and chair of Cumbria Tourism’s commercial committee. He was also chair of governors at Kirkby Stephen Grammar School and a dedicated supporter of Penrith Rugby Club’s under-16s.
Simon became known as a passionate advocate for small, independent businesses and contributed regularly to national media on the future of rural tourism and the importance of maintaining integrity and community within the visitor economy. Gill Haig, current chair of Cumbria Tourism, said: “Our overwhelming memories of Simon are — and will always be — of generosity, commitment and fun.” It was during this time that Simon also met and worked with Ben Tag. They worked together with the board to look at online booking systems, helping to introduce a key change in how tourism would be able to keep up with other third-party booking platforms. In 2019, Simon and Ben worked together again when Simon set up his own PR and communications consultancy – The Curious Hotelier.
During his life in Cumbria, Simon also found time to write the autobiographical novel, Undressed for Dinner which won the prestigious Hunter Davies Lakeland Book of the Year award in 2014. The sequel, Stop for Breakfast was published in 2016. Undressed for Dinner was inspired by Simon’s blog about family life in a country castle and was described by the Sunday Telegraph’s hotel critic, Fiona Duncan, as a “clarion call for celebrating independent hoteliers up and down the country”. Simon also found time for international roles including in 2014 and 2016, when he was invited as a non-denominational representative as part of an International Bishops Conference to Jerusalem and later Gaza.
After celebrating 25 years of co-ownership at Augill, Simon and Wendy decided to put the venue up for sale so they could enjoy new ventures but as Wendy explained: “Being at the castle in those early days I think were his happiest. He loved owning the castle, being part of the wider community, the arrival of the children and everything that brought. He said ‘parenthood represented one of the great joys, mysteries and adventures of being human’. He loved it all.” Wendy also describes Simon as a perfectionist: “He was a clothes horse, always impeccably turned out whatever the occasion… He was handsome. Generous, if sometimes grudgingly… He was seriously funny with a dry, black humour.”
Survived by his family Oliver, Emily, Jude and Wendy, a service to celebrate Simon’s life took place at the Eden Valley Crematorium on Wednesday 23rd April. Arrangements were handled by Walkers Funeral Directors.
