The holding company of von Essen Hotels, the group that includes Cliveden, Seaham Hall and Battersea's Hotel Verta, has gone into administration.

Ernst and Young's Alan Bloom, Chris Marsden and Angela Swarbrick have been appointed joint administrators to the privately owned group of 28 hotels in the UK and France.

But the administrators say it is business as usual at the hotels and nothing has changed for the customer.

"The hotels are not in administration and they will continue to trade as usual," Public Sector Travel quoted Ernst & Young as saying.

"It is business as normal for the hotels and customers of von Essen Hotels can continue to enjoy their stay," added Angela Swarbrick, joint administrator.

Von Essen, which had three properties - Mount Somerset hotel in Taunton, Congham Hall hotel in Norfolk and New Park Manor in Hampshire, bought Ston Easton Park in Bath and Thornbury Castle in Gloucestershire in 2000, for around £5m each.

It also bought the Bishopstrow House hotel in Wiltshire in 2001.

In 2002 Davis leased Cliveden in Buckinghamshire, and the Royal Crescent hotel in Bath, for £50m. In 2003, Von Essen bought Lewtrenchard Manor in Devon, Dalhousie Castle near Edinburgh, and, for £16m, three Cotswolds properties - Buckland Manor, Lower Slaughter and Washbourne Court - and The Elms in the Teme Valley.

The icing on the cake was the acquisition of the legendary Sharrow Bay Country House hotel in Cumbria, which was the UK's first country house hotel when it opened in the 1950s.

According to the Good Food Guide's editor Desmond Balmer, Cliveden, the infamous backdrop to the 1960s Profumo Scandal, "has not shone as a hotel for the past five years".

In 2005, Davis added the Greenway hotel in Gloucestershire and Homewood Park hotel in Bath and, at the start of 2006, he targeted the family market when Von Essen bought three of the four Luxury Family Hotels group, established by Nigel Chapman and Nicholas Dickinson, in 1993, for £20m.

In 2007, after claims of Fawlty Towers-style bungling and poor service, seven of Davis's hotels were axed from The Good Hotel Guide, the leading arbiter of independent hotels in Britain and Ireland.

By September, he had added the fourth property, Ickworth hotel, after renegotiating a lease with the landowner, the National Trust. The same month, Von Essen bought its first Welsh property, Ynyshir Hall, which is the only hotel in Wales to belong to the exclusive Relais & Chateau consortium and one of just two to hold a Michelin star. In 2008, Von Essen bought Callow Hall near Ashbourne.

In 2009, Davis launched a Von Essen retail food range to be sold in British stores; Von Essen also bought the bankrupt Forbury hotel in Reading.

The von Essen Hotels group, however, has collapsed into receivership, and a collection of castles and stately homes are up for auction.

The Royal Crescent in Bath is among the properties to be auctioned.

The von Essen Hotel group's collapse leads to the sale of 28 stately homes. Thornbury Castle and the Royal Crescent among luxury country house hotels to be auctioned by administrators.

Administrators at Ernst & Young are trying to find buyers for von Essen's 28 luxury country house hotels in the UK and France. They include Cliveden House in Berkshire, Ston Easton Park in Somerset, the Royal Crescent in Bath, Thornbury Castle near Bristol and Amberley Castle in west Sussex.

Cliveden House in Berkshire

Staying at the Royal Crescent in Bath has been compared to stepping into the pages of a Jane Austen novel. Its architecture has remained unchanged since the 18th century when it was built as part of the Royal Crescent by John Wood the Younger, which included some of the grandest houses in Bath.

The hotels are not in administration and will continue to trade as usual. Angela Swarbrick, joint administrator at Ernst & Young, said: "It is business as normal for the hotels and customers of von Essen Hotels can continue to enjoy their stay."

Von Essen Hotels employs 40 people and another 1,000 work at the 28 hotels. The administrators were unable to say whether they would be sold as a package or individually. "The administrators are working closely with the business to develop the appropriate strategy to take the business forward," said an Ernst & Young official.