Honestly, there’s nowhere quite like The Newt. Part country estate, part working farm, part cider orchard, part deluxe hotel and spa, part member’s club, The Newt does many things – and it does them all very well, thanks to a mega injection of cash from South African owners Karen Roos and Koos Bekker.
Based around a Georgian honey-coloured manor house called Hadspen, since opening in 2019, The Newt’s empire has been gradually expanding. It now covers more than 300 hectares of eye-popping Somerset countryside with its own sustainable on-site farm and food production – and plans for more growth to come.
Hotel guests can stay in the ornate house itself or the nearby converted Stable Yards, which are both close to all the action. There’s the spa, with its indoor/outdoor swimming pool and treatment rooms; the quirky communal lounges and bar; and (naturally, darling) the croquet lawn. The restaurant here is the Botanical Rooms, The Newt’s elegant, high-end option. Dinner is 3 courses for £95, with the ingredients all grown in the estate gardens – very nice, very posh, not one to take rowdy kids.
There’s also The Farmhouse, where we stayed: a whole other encampment on the far side of the estate. Based around a former dairy farm, the comfy rooms here have their own more family-friendly pool (the main one has restricted kiddy hours), lounge bar and more casual, all-day restaurant, where wildly delicious dishes are cooked over fire. It’s such a schlep from the main house that guests are given their own keys to unlock a flotilla of golf buggies and whizz (albeit at a maximum of 10mph) back and forth.
There’s really been no expense spared at The Newt. From the immaculate grounds to the in-bedroom steam rooms, everything here feels lavish but never pretentious. Luxury and self-sufficiency – you’ll never need to leave the grounds during a stay here – are integral, and the friendly, professional staff are proud of the mission.
Of course, all this loveliness comes at a hefty price. Rooms start around £570, and it’s a minimum two-night stay, so even the most affordable trip here is a serious investment.
One silver lining is that hotel guests also get free annual membership (usually £80), which means that you can come back to the restaurants, grounds and gardens without shelling out for a room all over again. In the member’s area, you can explore the perfectly manicured walled gardens, taste handmade cyder, explore the deer park (be careful during rutting season!), take a cold-water dip in the lake, check out the farm shop or visit the on-site Roman villa. (Yes, they also have one of those.) It’s like a day out at a National Trust property on steroids, and well worth revisiting for as long as you can.
Nearby
The grounds of The Newt are so extensive and packed with activities that you could easily stay for a long weekend and not leave at all. But if you do, charming and trendy Bruton is just a short drive away. It has an impressive selection of restaurants for such a small place, as well as the Hauser & Wirth gallery (complete with sculpture garden, restaurant and farm shop). Beyond Bruton, book in for Sunday lunch at The Tree Horseshoes in Batcombe: the country pub of Rochelle Canteen chef Margot Henderson. And if you’re travelling by train, you can catch up with The Newt again at Castle Cary station. The Creamery is the hotel’s trackside restaurant and farm shop, and a much better option for a pre-train bite than Upper Crust.
Time Out tip
Want to squeeze every last drop of value out of your stay? Head to Hadspen House at around four in the afternoon for complimentary cream tea, served every day.