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Across the Northern Hemisphere, it was a long, record-breakingly hot summer—and at long last, fall is here. For city dwellers especially, the refreshing chill in the air brings a desire to escape and feed the senses. Think picturesque pastures, farm-fresh cider, cozy, rustic cottages, and an endless sprawl of burnt crimson, orange, and brown trees.
The perfect place for these pursuits? The Newt in Somerset, a luxurious hotel nestled between market towns Bruton and Castle Cary in the English countryside. A two-and-a-half hour train ride from London’s Paddington station, The Newt is a hop, skip, and a jump for visitors from the Big Smoke, but it’s not just locals who are sojourning to the majestic estate. Just named one of The World’s 50 Best Hotels in 2023, the 800-acre sprawl of woodland orchards, labyrinthine gardens, and regal architecture has become a global destination.“As a child, I loved reading about Georgian times when a weekend at your uncle’s pile in an English county was the epitome of civilized life—so why not recreate it?” says Karen Roos, the owner of The Newt, who sought to give new life to Somerset’s classical Georgian architecture while retaining its old-world charm.
The heart of The Newt is Hadspen House, a restored 17th-century honeyed limestone manor surrounded by lush green lawns and adjacent to the main gardens. Inside the house, you’ll find an array of elegant spaces to unwind in, from the cozy living room with a wood-burning fireplace, vibrant velvet seating, and portraits of the Hobhouse family (who lived at Hadspen for over two centuries) to the gilded cocktail bar with teal walls and colorful bamboo chairs by Sebastian Herkner for Ames. “When design is really good, different periods marry easily,” says Roos, the former editor of Elle Decoration in South Africa, who is responsible for The Newt’s freshly reimagined, yet still quintessentially British interiors.
As for rooms, there’s an endless array of options to choose from. At Hadspen House and its Stable Yard, 23 rooms capture the more traditional Georgian charm with mantels and freestanding clawfoot tubs. For something a bit more rustic (yet no less lavish), there’s the serene Farmyard, a collection of 17 bedrooms with airy, loft-style spaces converted from 18th-century farm buildings. It’s just a short buggy ride away through picturesque orchards and farmlands roamed by droves of sheep and British Whites.
For rest and relaxation, The Newt’s tranquil spa is housed in a former cow shed and cast in Hadspen stone with a sauna, steam room, and indoor-outdoor pool. It offers an array of farm-to-treatment-table experiences, all of which harness ingredients from its medieval herbal garden. Some treatments, like the Garden Signature massage, even begin with a barefoot, sense-igniting meander through said garden. Other standouts include the transportive head-to-toe Turkish and Morrocan hammam treatments, wherein the body is gently pummeled and polished inside a private marble-lined steam chamber with a mesmerizing blue mosaic ceiling. You can also go for a dip in Farmyard’s spectacular (highly Instagrammable) indoor pool built in a former high-rise barn with wooden beams crafted by local artisans.
“Finding ourselves in an increasingly fast-paced world, we like to think of The Newt as a refuge from the hustle and bustle of daily life—a place to reconnect with nature and yourself and reap the rewards of slowing down,” says Antonella Bonettie, head of experience at The Newt, listing cold dips, woodland walks, and bee safaris at its Beezantium as some of the many ways guests can reconnect with nature on the property. Full of discovery and ever-evolving, one of the estate’s latest and most celebrated attractions is its Villa Ventorum exhibit, an immersive recreation of a 2,000-year-old Roman house that allows you to experience the sights, sounds, and scents of a 4th-century Romano-British household.
It can’t be said enough, though; nothing defines your time at The Newt like the season you are visiting. “What most sharply distinguishes farming life from the city is the rhythm of the seasons,” says Roos. “In town, one only changes a few layers of clothes. In the countryside, each season is fundamentally, deeply different from any other in its rituals, colors, smells, flavors.” This is felt most deeply in the expansive, fairytale-worthy formal gardens designed by Italian-French architect and landscape designer Patrice Taravella. They are a revelation in both beauty and function, from the apple tree-lined parabola plotted in a Baroque-style maze to the ample kitchen garden, brimming with over 350 varieties of fruits, vegetables, and herbs, used in all of The Newt’s farm-to-fork offerings, from the plant-led Garden Cafe and hearty, wood-fired Farmyard Kitchen to the more formal Botanical Room for elegant seasonal dining.
In addition to a fine harvest, each season at The Newt has its own workshops and festive fêtes; this fall is already filled with an impressive number of happenings. Marking the beginning of apple season this month, the estate is hosting orchard walks at dawn, home-ground cider-making classes, and a five-course banquet dinner dedicated to the fruit later this month. Next month, the estate will throw a Fire Night festival to give thanks for the rich harvest and usher in winter by burning effigy; the ceremony is accompanied by live music, fire spectacles, and warming treats. “It’s a seasonal event that keeps the history of the estate alive,” says Bonettie.
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Simply put: There are endless moments of discovery and wonderment in this enchanting English country estate. Marrying true luxury with a dyed-in-the-wool dedication to its Georgian heritage and abundant natural surroundings, The Newt is an extraordinary place–and it’s always the right time to visit.
Booking details for The Newt in Somerset:
Amenities: spa complex, hammam, three restaurants, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, gym, croquet, cider brewery
Address: A359, Hadspen, Castle Cary BA7 7NG, United Kingdom