JOIN the AFICIONADOS
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.
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 fabulously designed Spa by architects and designers, Simon Morray-Jones 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, every detail has been considered. Close to Bruton in Somerset, West England, 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.
By working with nature, innovation and wellbeing, Hotel Arlberg Lech has alongside Architect Peter Staic and Pointner Design, created a luxury blueprint for Alpine Health Living.
read more
Wellness and the Alps have always been inextricably linked due to the abundance of fresh mountain air, crystal clear water and the proximity of nose-tingling pine forests.
read more
The perfect summer pairing must be spa and hike – and where better to indulge than in a luxury retreat hotel clasped in the alpine mountains framed by snow-dusted peaks.
read more
Cryo at –110°, forest rituals, biohacks and breathwork – Forsthofgut’s waldSPA Health carves out a bold new rhythm of Alpine wellness where design, diagnostics and elemental nature power the body back to life.
read more
Somerset blends heritage and creativity: Bath’s Georgian poise, Bruton’s galleries, Glastonbury’s myth, willow weaving on the Levels, regenerative farms, cider orchards and artisan food culture rooted deeply in the land.
Founded by Natalie Jones, Caro in Bruton, Somerset is a boutique B&B, design store and creative hub. A rural cultural beacon where shopping, dining, art and events meet in style.
read more
The botanics of nature from cold-pressed organic, virgin Opuntia (Prickly Pear) oil infused with the aromatherapeutic benefits of Geranium Bourbon, Neroli, and Spanish Sage.
read more
A smooth design den pearled in white with an interior design that is eminently simple: a clean alpine aestheticism that borrows from Italian design, the Danish principles of hygge and a touch of sweet sophistication in the Japonesque detailing.
read more
Driftwood, spring water and elemental heat. Engel Spa is a raw Alpine hideaway where design restores and nature recalibrates. This is wellness with altitude and intention.
read more
Manhattan goes minimalist. Hidden in The Greenwich Hotel, Shibui Spa channels Japanese Onsen rituals, ancient bodywork and luxury healing in a space built from 250-year-old temple wood.
read more
A spa sanctuary of raw architecture and rooted calm — MAISTRA 160 in Pontresina cocoons guests in an elemental world of stone, steam and alpine air, where design becomes a healing ritual.
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.