The latest in a series of restoration and development projects on an 800-acre site, the 2,000 square metre farm hamlet comprising nine historic buildings, which looks like something out of a Jane Austen book, is now an enchanting place of hospitality with 17 suites, a restaurant, an indoor swimming pool and spa, a bar, a games room and a shelter for bicycles and electric vehicles.
The design approach of the architects - Richard Parr Associates (RPA) in collaboration with owner and designer Karen Roos - was characterised by a desire to preserve the original, romantic spirit of the farm buildings through a straightforward and essential language that reconciled the use of traditional materials and technologies with a contemporary, elegant and clearly recognisable taste.
The buildings - an 18th-century farmhouse, a threshing barn, a cheese barn, a stable, a granary and a series of outbuildings - have been sensitively and delicately reinterpreted through the use of a palette of materials common to the whole project - local stone, oak wood, glass, marble, plaster, brass - that gives the spaces warmth, intimacy and authenticity.
The buildings for communal activities are located in the heart of the lot: Garner Bar, with stone walls, a sloping roof and unfinished wooden floors, houses a bar, a library and a games room; Pool Barn contains the swimming pool, covered by a traditional wooden ceiling supported by brick columns; Threshing Barn, with an oak truss roof, houses the reception, a games room and a restaurant seating 36.
The private living areas are distributed throughout the other restored buildings (Shatwell House, the old barn, the cheese barn, the stable), where the historic settings are complemented by textiles, colours and furnishings in a contemporary key, inserted with measure and delicacy into the context.
At the top of the plot, The Shelter, a horseshoe-shaped shelter with a Douglas fir and oak structure, houses bicycles and electric vehicles for guests wishing to explore the fascinating surrounding English countryside.
- Project title:
- Farmyard at The Newt in Somerset
- Architectural project:
- Richard Parr Associates
- Interiors:
- Karen Roos
- Structural Engineer:
- Mann Williams
- Contractor:
- Stonewood
- M&E Consultant:
- Martin Thomas Associates
- Landscape Architect:
- RPA in collaboration with The Newt in Somerset
- QS:
- Currie & Brown
- Location:
- Bruton, Somerset, Regno Unito
- Completion:
- 2021