Hotel, Somerset Find creature comforts at The Newt, a West Country vision of arcadia

Creature comforts

The Newt is a carefully cultivated country-house hotel, where history, landscape, food and design coexist in a modern vision of arcadia

The Newt in Somerset has been one of the most hotly anticipated hotel launches of the year, and for good reason. Its owners, Koos Bekker and Karen Roos, are the brains behind Babylonstoren, the hotel, vineyard and gardens in South Africa’s Cape Winelands, which has earned cult status thanks to its combination of historic architecture, contemporary design and farm-to-table dining. Repeating this formula at a Georgian country house in south-west England, where the climate is quite markedly different, has been a challenge that the couple have tackled with relish.

The project started without any real plan. The pair had an idea that the UK might be a good place to buy agricultural land; an advertisement in Country Life led them to the Grade II*- listed Hadspen House, a property that had been owned by the affluent Hobhouse family for more than two centuries. At first it became their home, but it didn’t take them long to realise the greater potential, not just in the house itself, but in its characterful stable blocks and expansive grounds, where garden designer and former resident Penelope Hobhouse had constructed a parabola-shaped walled garden in the 1960s. For Roos in particular, an interior stylist and former editor of Elle Decoration South Africa, the temptation to start tailoring the place to guests proved too great. “We saw Somerset, loved it and never looked back. It was the same with Babylonstoren, it was never intended to be all that it is now,” says Roos. “But once we had it, we started sharing it with other people, which got us thinking about what they would like.”

Roos enlisted the help of Simon Morray-Jones – the Bath-based architect who worked with Soho House on the conversion of 18th-century mansion Babington House – to help her with the renovations. But the vision was largely of her own making, combining her South African design sensibility with a love of contemporary European style and an affection for classic English literature. “From reading Jane Austen, and watching beautiful old movies and TV shows, I’ve always loved English country houses, particularly downstairs,” she says.

It’s unsurprising, then, that the ground floor of Hadspen House has been cleverly reorganised and extended to create a series of generous and comfortable spaces. Inspired by the film Gosford Park, the state-of-the-art kitchen is the central focus, a kind of theatre where chefs experiment with fresh ingredients grown on the estate. A former courtyard is now a glassroofed breakfast room filled with fruit trees, while the oak-panelled dining room has been reinvigorated with green marble and a lighting Words Amy Frearson

Images Courtesy of The Newt

Facing page Top to bottom: a guest room’s colour palette complements the garden beyond; in the bar, contemporary design sits with classical architecture

“It’s very important for me with a hotel that every room is my favourite”

centrepiece made from Tom Dixon’s signature brass pendants. The bar and the croquet room are brought to life with vibrant seating by Sebastian Herkner, and the library is now a reception room boasting an eclectic mix of curiosities from past and present.

Moving through all these rooms, the lack of curtains and cushions, normally such a staple of the country-house look, is noticeable. But it doesn’t feel clinical: these spaces instead rely on material textures to offer a feeling of warmth. “I didn’t want to go down the route of a lot of country houses. My style has always been quite masculine; I don’t think it needs all the fabrics,” says Roos. A nod to history instead comes in the form of the portrait paintings that depict the many generations of the Hobhouse family. Original works of art as well as contemporary reinterpretations feature throughout.

The Newt’s 23 bedrooms are split between the first floor and attic spaces of the house, and the converted sheds and lofts of the stable yard. Most offer guests a mix of contemporary and traditional four-poster beds, a working stove or fireplace and a freestanding bathtub. “It’s very important for me with a hotel that every room is my favourite,” says Roos. “The idea is terrible for me that somebody comes and stays only in one room and it might not be the best room.” The same standard of luxury extends to the gym and spa facilities, which are sited in some former agricultural buildings to the south of Above Unfussy but not uncomfortable, the interiors rely on material textures to create a sense of warmth

Above Top to bottom: a room in the Georgian house with private terrace; produce is sourced from the estate where possible, from garden vegetables to venison

“I didn’t want to go down the route of a lot of country houses; my style has always been quite masculine”

the main house. Amenities include a swimming pool, an indoor-outdoor hydro pool, a rasul mud chamber and a hammam.

For the garden, Roos turned to French architect Patrice Taravella, who was also behind the landscaping at Babylonstoren. Working within the framework of Penelope Hobhouse’s reestablished parabola, his design celebrates the history of English formal gardens. Highlights include a baroque apple tree maze, a Victorian fragrance garden, a trio of Georgian colour gardens and ponds where you can spot the great crested newts that gave the hotel its name. There are various other delights too, from woven seating ‘nests’ by South African artist Porky Hefer to a terrace dotted with water-squirting toads. “We had to reconstruct everything,” says Roos, pointing to facilities for cider-making and the various plots for growing produce. “We gave the garden bones again.”

The gardens, which are open to the public as well as hotel guests, were the first of The Newt’s facilities to be unveiled. The hotel followed on

Above Hadspen House is nestled amid gardens, orchards, lakes and woodland, and guests are invited to roam the grounds

Facing page A room dedicated to one of the West Country’s best-known products – cheese

a couple of months later, but it doesn’t stop there, as there are several other features still to come, including a museum of garden history and another suite of rooms.

Roos insists that, even though she and Bekker live in the hotel grounds, she isn’t too precious about any of the spaces they’ve created. Once the design is right, she’s happy to hand it all over to the staff and guests. “It has to be right, but after that I don’t take it too seriously,” she says. But, just as with Babylonstoren, she can’t promise that new facilities won’t keep popping up in the future. “I have a crazy husband, he’s never going to stop!” she says, laughing. “There will always be new things.”

The destination for design

Purveyors of iconic, designer furniture & lighting.

Shop thousands of designs at nest.co.uk We guarantee authenticity Our expertly curated collection epitomises quality and fine craftsmanship. Shop from Carl Hansen, Muuto, Menu, Gubi & more.

HOME Timeless spaces