England - 1
The Newt in Somerset is not a hotel, it’s an estate, the Emily Estate, probably at least 800 acres, although some people say it’s more. It belongs to South Africa’s media-design couple, Koos Bekker, the Tencent and Napster genius, and his wife, Karen Roos.
After doing Babylonstoren in Franschhoek, just outside Cape Town, they wanted an English apple orchard. Well, this pair does nothing by halves. They bought land outside Bruton in Somerset, and in 2019 opened the first stage of it. Yes, they have an apple orchard with over 200 of the 650-plus known varieties of apples (this is said to be the premier apple arboretum in the whole of UK). They bought a quarry for the marble they needed, that kind of thing.
The Newt’s gardens are so splendid that people come from all over the world to see them. They are almost divided into rooms. There’s a purple area, say. There’s probably a cactus area. But when Girlahead visited, it was raining, as it is in England every day, it seems now, so she didn’t garden-grovel – that’s one of many reasons for going back. This is what modern luxury is all about. Space, and more.
The Newt in Somerset not only has a facsimile Roman villa on it and a working farm with a buffalo herd – and the gardens – but it’s got two hotels on it. The main Newt, also known as Hadspen House, and, 20 minutes’ walk away, the Farmyard Hotel, with has 17 rooms with another 20 to come. The main hotel has 23 rooms. In all, the estate, and it’s best to call it thus, the estate employs 650, many of them locals, which brings great employment to the area. They have housing for 40% of the team. The overall team is divided into 12 departments, all reporting ultimately to the CEO of the whole operation, Andrew Foulkes, a former chef (see below as he shows off some of the many heritage vegetables from the estate, which will be used in menus). Every Friday, each department head sends a detailed weekly report via the CEO to the owner, and, wherever he is, he replies back with his comments the following day. He obviously believes in empowerment, but he is still micro-involved.
There’s something really charming, says Girlahead, about interviewing a CEO by a plate of vintage-looking carrots – but rustic, rural nature is an essential ingredient of what today’s A-listers want………
