Elite Traveler Fall 2023

elite traveler FALL2023 129

The lodge is in the heart of the West Country in England

The library

Country living

The English countryside is an elusive nirvana, invariably found only in the heads of those old enough to actually remember it, or a Hollywood studio. The urban blob that is London commandeers almost the entire south-eastern corner of the country which it then uses to park its sprawling suburbs. Whilst there are undoubtedly beautiful hidden corners of the Home Counties (those that encircle the capital), this is all gradual gradations of London-ness. To get close to the real deal of a midsummer’s evening with the clink of beer glasses and the intermittent thwack of a distant cricket bat echoing through the lingering daylight of a pub garden; that’ll involve moving a good way away from the capital. Heading west, however, is unlikely to ever disappoint. The ‘West Country,’ for centuries resistant to the incursions and invasions on the eastern side of the country, pro ff ers the promise of becoming subsumed into a quintessential Englishness su ff used in myth and legend, with the county of Somerset an ideal place to start searching. Home to Glastonbury, famous for its festival, but whose ancient mystical, ecclesiastical, and Arthurian connotations project a more profound impression than Bon Jovi or Beyoncé ever will, Somerset is rural England at its most endearing. The quickest option from London is by train to the county town of Taunton, where a waiting Range Rover can launch straight into the undulating countryside and through timeless towns and villages, before diving deep into the rural heartland in search of Bittescombe Lodge.

Bittescombe Lodge & Deer Park is among the fi rst properties in the UK from Mandarin Oriental Exclusive Homes — a partnership between Mandarin Oriental, the revered upscale hotel operator with its collective of celebrity fans, and StayOne, the prestigious private home rental operation purporting to deal in the top 1% of properties. The portfolio of properties ranges from a cli ff -top estate in Bali’s Uluwatu to a private island nature reserveo ff the coast of Ibiza, all embellished with the legendary service standards synonymous with the MO brand. The property, completed in 2022, is a total transformation of a neglected farmhouse, barn and outbuildings that was slowly sinking into obscurity. What had been for generations, an unpretentious working family dairy farm, is now a very individually styled and luxuriously appointed structure poised at the pointy end of the hospitality pyramid and primed to meet the demands of the most discerning of clients. The project was overseen by owners Richard and Samantha Campbell-Breeden. The couple, it soon

transpires, are sticklers for detail, precision, and for everything to be as it should, irrespective of whatever it takes or costs. Signi fi cantly, their personal pro fi les are tightly aligned with those of the guests to whom Bittescombe Lodge is targeted. After years based in Hong Kong where Richard was one of Goldman Sachs’ top personnel in the Far East, the Campbell Breeden’s relocated back to the UK in 2016. Having traveled extensively throughout the region during this time, their perception of high-end hospitality (not least the clean-lined contemporary East Asian kind) and its interface with the wants and needs of HNW travelers, is acutely attuned. Samantha’s cosmopolitan life began as it intended to go on, with a childhood spent in Portugal and France, where her family owned a hunting lodge in Chantilly that once belonged to the French royal family. She may have drawn from a somewhat eclectic design palette at Bittescombe Lodge, but, not least now as the ‘chatelaine’ of Bittescombe Manor House (the stately pile 10 minutes away, purchased in 2013 for $5.5m), her understanding of life on a country estate is very lived and very real. Many of the artifacts, artworks and heirlooms from Chantilly have been thoughtfully and tastefully woven into the design fabric of Bittescombe Lodge. Purists for English country house decor may require a gulp of pure country air before they approach this uniquely stylized property, but an open mind will be amply rewarded. Contemporary is juxtaposed with traditional and embellished with elements ranging from subtly luxurious to colorfully unrestrained. What was a barn is now a 1,500-sq-ft multi purpose space, the Old Cowshed, with fl oor-to-ceiling windows embracing the verdant valley outside. Former cow stalls have metamorphosed into a seductive 20-seat dining hall, using the dining chairs from Chantilly, a club and a bar area. The former dairy, meanwhile, is now an indoor swimming pool, incorporating a spa.

Photos Sue Vaughton Photography