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Set within the folds of rural Somerset close to Bruton, The Newt is a country estate that has been re-scripted into one of Britain’s most compelling design hotels. Rooted in the honeyed limestone of Hadspen House, a 17th-century manor reworked in Georgian style, this luxury hotel has become a cultural and horticultural landmark where interiors, food, gardens and wellness interlace with heritage.
At the heart is the vision of Karen Roos, co-owner with Koos Bekker, whose editorship at Elle Decoration South Africa has clearly shaped the estate’s aesthetic. Her interiors eschew flourish in favour of calm: muted tones, shuttered windows, oak floors, linen, stone, and bespoke joinery. Furniture is an intelligent marriage of antique finds and contemporary British craft. Nothing feels imposed. Every object is part of a quiet dialogue with history.
The architectural restoration has been a collective act. Simon Morray-Jones Architects worked on Hadspen House, while Benjamin + Beauchamp Architects transformed the Upper Yard stables and granary into guest rooms and support spaces. Richard Parr Associates reimagined the Farmyard, turning nine agricultural buildings into suites, a pool, spa and convivial bar. Their hand is visible in the tactile palette: Hadspen stone, Blue Lias, oak and lime plaster that age gracefully. Smaller interventions by ArchiWest and Stonewood Design brought into being glasshouses, courtyards and subterranean chambers. It is a study in restoration with restraint, a masterclass in layering new life onto historic fabric.
The gardens are no less integral. The Parabola walled orchard is an amphitheatre and an orchard, planted with 3,000 apple trees. Patrice Taravella, French-Italian landscape architect, shaped the latest incarnation, while design legend Piet Oudolf wove his painterly perennials into meadows beyond. Katie Lewis, the estate’s in-house landscape architect, added crafted ironwork and terrace details. This is layered history: Margareta Hobhouse, Penelope Hobhouse, and colourists Nori and Sandra Pope each left their imprint before Taravella’s hand. Craft is everywhere, from Tom Trouton’s dry-stone walls to ironwork by Muchelney Forge.
The philosophy of terroir leads to dining. In the Botanical Rooms, estate vegetables, salt-cured meats and day-boat fish define a cuisine of pared-back elegance. Maison Osip cyder is pressed on site and poured as naturally as the land suggests. Menus shift with season and soil, never straying far from Somerset. Breakfasts channel the abundance of a French auberge, while picnics unfold across orchards and wildflower meadows.
The spa is another chapter in this narrative of place. Set amongst medieval herb gardens, its indoor–outdoor pools, saunas, hammam and salt chambers invite a slower rhythm. Treatments use botanicals drawn from the estate, echoing the scents of thyme, lavender and orchard blossom. This is wellness as Somerset intended: restorative, natural, deeply rooted in soil and season.
The Newt in Somerset is a hotel, spa, garden and cultural estate at once. It is a British landmark in contemporary hospitality that listens carefully to its past while shaping a new chapter in design. From the vision of Karen Roos to the hands of architects Simon Morray-Jones, Benjamin + Beauchamp, Richard Parr, and garden masters Patrice Taravella and Piet Oudolf, every detail has been considered. Close to Bruton, this is a destination where history is not preserved behind glass but lived, planted, cooked and restored with rare precision.
Michelin-starred Osip in Bruton, Somerset, from chef Merlin Labron-Johnson, pairs farm-to-fork dining with boutique rooms. A soulful retreat where food, design and Somerset terroir create a singular cultural escape.
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Get the insider news and lowdown on what we've been up to, where we've been, and who we've met along the way. Be the first to discover new places and get the scoop on our favourites.