A Dartmoor hotel will host a five-day swingers party.
Bovey Castle, the luxury resort in North Bovey, is to close its grounds for American erotic travel company shoesonly.com in July next year. The firm has booked the entire hotel and its 275 acres for 100 guests to create Pleasure Castle, billed as a 'Downton Abbey' experience only sexier. It is even offering a complimentary Devon afternoon cream tea for guests booking before September 30.
The luxury resort was previously owned by entrepreneur Peter de Savary and is a well-known hideaway for VIPs and celebrities.
The Shoes Only team visited the hotel earlier this year to discuss the plans to transform 'fantasy into reality'.
A spokesman for the travel firm said: "Our criteria in selecting venues is to find beautiful 5-star properties around the world which offer our members, who are all serious travellers, the opportunity to explore and visit wonderful and interesting places in a private setting."
The itinerary includes a sexy renaissance fair in the hotel grounds with erotic costumes, live erotic dance shows, naked pool parties and foam parties.
But the plans have not been entirely received well by leisure club members at the hotel.
One member, who did not wish to be named, said: "I hope this isn't a new direction for the hotel owners. I, for one, will be concerned about getting in the pool again afterwards."
The company organises holidays for 'sexy travellers' looking to spend time with like minded people.
Other holidays next year include Acapulco Ambrosia in Mexico and Sexy under the Tuscan Sun villa holiday in Italy.
The spokesman said: "They are quite popular and are no different then any other niche market group designed to allow like-minded people to share a vacation experience together."
He said that group members are no different to any other that might visit the castle.
He said: "They are highly educated professionals from Europe and North America on holiday to enjoy the natural beauty of South West England. While visiting and touring, our group will bring a positive and significant economic impact to the area.
"Additionally, the venue with its 275 acres is totally private and closed to any outside visitors during our group's stay."
A team from the holiday firm undertook a four-day visit to the hotel earlier this summer and say they found the 'perfect castle estate'.
The company newsletter states: "Our visit allowed us to meet all the staff and develop a plan to utilise all of their very extensive facilities, giving our members a constantly changing and evolving experience to excite the senses. So whether by day or night you will be able to be as busy as you like, hopping from one event to another, or just chill in sun au natural by day relaxing and preparing for the evening ahead."
The Grade II-listed mansion and golf resort was bought in June by the Rigby Group, which also owns Exeter Airport.
The hotel is undergoing a £2 million renovation and is set to become the flagship resort in the group's Eden Hotel Collection.
A spokesman for the Eden Hotel Collection said: "The Eden Hotel Collection confirms that a booking has been made by a North American tour company for exclusive use of Bovey Castle next summer. As with any reservation contract we enter into with a guest, we are unable to discuss confidential details of their booking."
The mansion was built in 1907 to designs by Detmar Blow, for the second Viscount Hambleden. By 1930 it had become a hotel operated by the Great Western Railway, known as the Manor House Hotel. In 1948 it was taken over by the British Transport Commission. It was expanded under new ownership in the 1990s, then purchased and refurbished by the entrepreneur Peter de Savary in 2003 and renamed 'Bovey Castle'
