NETJETS EU VOLUME 15 2021

ON LOCATION
The appetite for cultural self-improvement
has been fanned by the pandemic
(thebradleyhare.co.uk). Some 15 minutes
out of Bruton, it borders the duchal estate,
the old taphouse rejuvenated as a glamorous
bolthole with canopy beds, a cricket pitch,
skittles alley and the best cocktail menu (try
the rhubarb sour) this side of Stonehenge.
Teals (teals.co.uk) is another place polishing
its community halo and sustainability credentials
– a farm shop that’s so much more than an A303
pitstop for a lunch or an apple. The only stop on the
main road artery to Cornwall and the South offering
electric car charging posts, it makes an effort to ban
plastic, is almost entirely solar powered, and offers
an open field for stretching legs and jogging the
dog. But since this is the dairy and cheddar heartland
of England, a visit and tasting at the nearby, awardwinning
Westcombe Dairy (westcombedairy.
com) near Batcombe is on the must-do list. Here,
Tina the Turner is the resident robot who turns
the giant cheese wheels, although the production
process uses age-old traditions in the adjoining
vast clay cave. There’s the craft Wild Beer brewery
on site as well as the family-produced Brickell’s
ice cream churned without additives. Rhubarb
crumble and cinnamon toast are winning flavours
made from the sourdough produced in the bakery
of At the Chapel (atthechapel.co.uk) in Bruton.
INDEED, At the Chapel, the beautiful Grade-II
listed 17th-century building on Bruton’s high
street, can lay claim not just to cinnamon toast ice
cream, but as a restaurant, bar, hotel and cultural
hub, it put the old Saxon town on the map some
15 years ago. It is a hive of activity and events,
a place where you are likely to encounter local
celebrities like impresario Cameron Mackintosh,
film director Joe Wright, ballet dancer Carlos
Acosta and broadcaster Mariella Frostrup taking the
podium in the club room and terrace downstairs.
The appetite for cultural self-improvement has
been fanned by the pandemic. Evidently, in an
uncertain time a nostalgic yearning for nature and
the security that tradition brings, has also led to an
increase in demand for backcountry skills. These
are highlights of the Durslade Farm experience
at Hauser & Wirth’s (hauserwirth.com) gallery
flagship with bar and restaurant, studios, farm
shop and an art-filled ancient farmhouse to rent
– featured as a backdrop in the film Chocolat with
Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche. The Roth Bar
& Grill’s “Unhooked” fishing days with their chef
Steve Horrell are oversubscribed. Or there are
courses for open-fire cooking, spoon-whittling
and foraging, alongside experimental printmaking
and drawing workshops with HW artists.
To stand on your head in the spaceship structure
of the Radić Pavilion that looks out over the
famous Piet Oudolf grasslands during a £5 pilates
session is novel and good-value, to say the least.
SIMILARLY, IT IS the rural-life experiences on offer
at The Newt (thenewtinsomerset.com), outside
Bruton, rather than the thread counts of the linen, that
have caught the collective imagination. A recently
opened hotel estate with shops, restaurants, a spa,
farm museum and two hotel buildings across 324
hectares, it has turned the humble apple and the
cider-making process, which is deeply embedded
in the county’s DNA and psyche, into a showpiece.
There is a state-of-the-art “cyder” press, an apple
tree maze at the garden’s core, with a replanting
of 26 hectares of orchard producing over 70
varieties of apples. While the grounds have been
nipped and tucked to a degree that is perhaps at
odds with the laidback, unbuttoned Somerset vibe,
there can be no doubt that as far as hospitality
goes, this hotel really sets the luxury bar with
a guest experience that begins (for a price)
at Paddington Station in London, on a first-class train
carriage with linen-wrapped hamper for breakfast.
Where The Newt is manicured and slick with
picture-perfect snaps in mind, Lucknam Park
(lucknampark.co.uk), outside Bath – another
Georgian grande dame, sitting similarly sedately
in its rolling 200ha park – has a kind of oldschool
elegant insouciance that doesn’t mind dog
hairs on the fading chintz and considers a scratch
mark on the brown furniture a badge of the English
TOWN IN COUNTRY
London’s famed Soho House
has a rural presence in
Babbington House
TINA HILLIER
56 NetJets