The Tamesis
How is the atmosphere?
I stayed in one of the stable rooms surrounding Hadspen House, a restored 17th-century limestone manor house renovated in the Georgian era. (Then, co-owner and former co-owner of The Newt South Africa Elle Decoration Editor-in-Chief Karen Roos delivers remarks ahead of the hotel’s 2019 opening. ) Inside the house you’ll find a series of thoughtfully designed spaces: a cozy living room with a wood-burning fireplace, vibrant velvet seating, and portraits of the Hobhouse family, who have lived in Hudspoon for more than two centuries. Oh, and there’s the delightful Botanical Rooms restaurant, where you can sample estate-to-table dishes such as British white beef raised in several fields and venison sourced from a deer park in a conservatory-style room filled with orange trees.
The location of my room also meant I was close to the spa, which is exactly where I wanted to be. Here, the thermal circuit has been cleverly designed as a modern riff on the classic Roman baths (there’s also an ancient Roman villa on the estate), with a floor-to-ceiling sauna overlooking fern trees, a steam room and an indoor and outdoor swimming pool. (Also, there’s the all-important outdoor cold plunge pool for those brave enough, which I certainly was.) It offers a range of farm-to-therapy table experiences, all featuring ingredients from the hotel’s medieval herb garden: rosemary, lavender, sage. It’s a treat for all the senses.
Photo: Courtesy of Somerset Salamander
history?
For centuries, the land around the salamander has been cultivated. The spa is partially located in (and behind and below) what was once a cowshed or cattle shed. Behind it, a barn was used to house cows during the winter, and certain structural features were designed to accommodate them: round columns, for example, prevent the cows from shifting the bricks when they rub against them. (Renovating the historic grounds—including the spa—took six years.)
