Winford Manor, North Somerset

Winford Manor is a Grade II listed 17th century country estate set in landscaped grounds near Bristol Airport. It has previously been used as a religious retreat, a boutique hotel and a wedding venue. From September 2022 the Home Office has run the site as contingency asylum accommodation, with Clearsprings holding the contract and providing 36 rooms for families and individuals from a range of countries^[1]Press. Bristol World reported that residents include children aged between three and fourteen who are bussed to Bristol schools each day, with the site offering no on site education^[3]Press.

The September 2022 Winford Parish Council meeting was the first formal opportunity for residents to raise questions about the use of the manor as asylum accommodation. 56 residents attended and the recorded questions ranged from the lack of community consultation and the absence of planning permission changes through to the demographics of the asylum seekers, safeguarding measures, cultural integration and access to schooling and healthcare in surrounding villages^[4]Council.

The site has continued to attract national attention. Jacob Rees Mogg visited Winford Manor for a GB News segment that brought the country house programme into the wider migrant hotel debate, and Bristol Post ran a series of long form pieces tracking the lack of public confirmation of the contract despite the site being well known locally as a Home Office facility^[2]Press.

At the £170 per person per night Migration Observatory benchmark^[5], 36 rooms at full asylum occupancy at Winford Manor imply headline taxpayer exposure of about £6,120 per night and roughly £2.23 million per year. That is well below the May 2025 NAO contract review average of about £5.84 million per year per asylum hotel, reflecting the smaller capacity of the manor compared with city centre sites^[6]NAO.