Inside Burberry’s takeover of The Newt in Somerset, which pays homage to the ‘great British summer’

This past February, for his A/W 2025 collection for Burberry, Yorkshire-born creative director Daniel Lee was inspired by the British tradition of the ‘weekend getaway’ to the country. ‘It’s that slightly eccentric, somewhat bohemian need to travel,’ he said at the time. ‘Long rainy walks in the great outdoors to disconnect and day trips to grand stately homes.’

Presented amid a tapestry-strewn set at London’s Tate Modern – evoking sprawling country estates – it spoke to a honing in on the British eccentricities for which Burberry remains best-known. As such, he drafted an array of British actors best known for their work in the ‘country house’ genre to walk in the show – including Richard E Grant (Gosford Park), Elizabeth McGovern (Downton Abbey) and Lesley Manville (The Crown) – while an earlier S/S 2025 campaign was a Richard Curtis-worthy London rom-com starring Kate Winslet, Aimee Lou Wood and Nicholas Hoult, among others (the short film was titled ‘London in Love’).

‘Whatever the weather’: Burberry takes over The Newt in Somerset

Now, following a recent collaboration with King Charles’ Gloucester residence Highgrove – whereby artist Helen Bullock’s botanics adorn trench coats and cardigans, inspired by its fabled gardens – Burberry have taken over another country estate, The Newt in Somerset. Owned by South African businessman Koos Bekker and his wife Karen Roos, the luxury hotel and spa is located in the 18th-century Hadspen House, a West Country estate best-known for its bucolic gardens and 2000-acre working farm (as such, the majority of produce for the hotel’s various rooms and restaurants is sourced from the grounds).

Burberry’s take on the ‘summer escape’ sees the hotel – which is spread across the main house and a converted ‘farmyard’ location – adorned with a custom green version of Burberry’s signature check, reflecting The Newt’s own hallmark pond-green hue. The collaboration was previewed last month at the 2025 RHS Chelsea Flower Show (The Newt was the headline sponsor), and this week comes to life, seeing the check decorating sun loungers at its spa and pool, wrapped across electic buggies and parasols, mown into The Newt’s croquet lawn, and even appearing on a hot-air balloon which allows guests to take flight in style.

Designed to ‘capture the essence of a great British summer in the countryside... whatever the weather’ (true to form, as Wallpaper* decamped to the Somerset estate, it was grey with a little drizzle), guests of The Newt can partake in an array of Burberry-ified experiences across the grounds. These include badminton (complete with custom Burberry racquets and Burberry-logo net), swimming (guests will receive a Burberry towel when swimming in the hotel’s pool or lake) and picnics on signature check blankets.

Then, of course, there is the Burberry-check hot-air balloon, allowing the adventurous to view the estate from on high – a nod to the house’s history outfitting balloonists in the early 19th century. These included Air Commodore Edward Maitland, who flew 1,117 miles in a balloon wearing Burberry gabardine in 1908 (the extraordinary journey took him from London’s Crystal Palace to Meeki Derevi in Russia).

A special pop-up boutique has also been erected on the grounds, comprising swimwear, outerwear, hats, scarves and umbrellas, alongside pieces from the S/S 2025 collection. Presented at the brutalist National Theatre in London, the collection was inspired by what Lee called the ‘easy elegance’ of the work of YBA Gary Hume, who also created the show’s set, a collection of cut-out medical green tarpaulins referencing his 1990 installation ‘Bays’. ‘There was a real bond of being two creative people,’ Hume told Wallpaper* at the time.

To celebrate the launch, Wallpaper* journeyed to The Newt to join the festivities, which saw Burberry’s guests – travelling to the estate from around the world – tour the meticulous gardens (currently under the stewardship of Italian-French architect Patrice Taravella and his vast team), play croquet and badminton, picnic on the lawns and enjoy the spoils of The Newt’s grounds. For those planning their own summertime escapes, Burberry’s ‘great British Summer’ at The Newt runs until 18 August 2025.

Burberry at The Newt in Somerset runs until 18 August 2025.

burberry.com