Inspire Decisions

The Great House is in the village of Sonning-on-Thames, just over half an hour’s journey from London. The village was described by Jerome K. Jerome in his book Three Men in a Boat as “the most fairy-like little nook on the whole river”.

The hotel sits on the banks of the river, close to where the 18th Century Sonning Bridge joins the counties of Berkshire and Oxfordshire. You’ll find the atmosphere relaxed and the service friendly.

The hotel has recently been refurbished to a high standard. There are 49 elegant bedrooms and a customisable events space, The Great House Lodge, which is fully equipped and ideal for meetings, private dinners and celebrations

Employees that work

harder, faster, better, longer.

The amazing power of

employee engagement.

Once upon a time, there was an employee. Let’s call her Julie. Julie worked at a uber-cool tech startup. The startup’s office was designed like a playground for adults. Julie came into work one day, paddled past the swim-up bar, rode her Segway over the skybridge and…handed in her notice.

Why?

Julie wasn’t engaged with her work. She enjoyed the perks, sure. But she didn’t feel an emotional commitment to the organisation and its goals.

Perform at Your Best

BoxVR is a boxing-inspired app featuring vibrant graphics and uplifting music. Every aspect of the app is designed to help you focus completely and perform at your best.

Whatever your fitness level, you can put on a VR headset and immerse yourself in BoxVR’s high-intensity routines, choreographed by professional instructors. Jab, weave, and uppercut your way through the levels in time to pumping tracks. Upload your own music and instantly create a tailored boxing workout.

By playing BoxVR regularly you can increase your energy levels, build strength, lose weight, and improve your overall health.

Eat Your Way to a Better World

You have the power to change the world. How? By choosing to eat better food. We founded The Bear Kitchen to help you do just that. Our supper clubs and event catering service bring together food lovers who care about what they eat, and the planet it comes from.

This is not about diets, deprivation or turning foods into enemies. Food is joy. But we fully respect individual choices. Vegetarians, vegans, omnivores: all are welcome at The Bear Kitchen. We want to unite people around the pleasure of eating well.

Our philosophy is simple: eat like a bear. Our furry friend has no concept of local or seasonal ingredients, but she eats nothing else. She munches mostly plants, and treats herself occasionally to good quality fish and meat. Oh, and she’s never heard of a factory farm. She’d feel right at home with our menus. And so, we hope, will you.

8 October 1908 – a day that changed Charles Rolls’ life. It was a clear, crisp autumn morning at Camp d’Auvours near Le Mans, France. Conditions were perfect. They had to be. Early aircraft—flimsy constructions of wood and cloth—were alarmingly prone to sudden exits from the sky. Rolls, wearing a high collar, necktie and breast pocket handkerchief, seemed overdressed next to the pilot, Wilbur Wright, who wore a simple cap.

The Wright Flyer’s 25 hp engine roared to life. The machine was catapulted along the launching rail. The nose dipped. Then, to the relief of the massed crowd, the unlikely contraption rose gracefully to reach its top speed of 40 mph.

Rolls was only the third Englishman ever to experience powered flight. The event affected him so profoundly that in 1910 he resigned as technical managing director of Rolls-Royce to dedicate his life to flying. The same year he became the first man to make a non-stop double crossing of the English Channel.

On 12 July 1910 Rolls was killed when the tail of his plane broke off during a flying display at Bournemouth. He was 32.