Babington House in Somerset Great Britain
"Of all the great things the English invented and which must be credited with national character, the most perfect, the most characteristic, the only one that they have mastered in all the details, to the point that it can be considered like the compendious illustration of their social genius and their behavior, it is the country house, well installed. well managed, well furnished ”. This is what the British writer Henry James (1843-1916) thought. And it would be very difficult not to agree. Irresistible combination of nature, history and elegance, the English country house and steeped in romance. Wade in rubber boots in windswept fields, then return to a game of billiards in a house where a fire roars in the fireplace ... The invigorating pleasures of the outdoors find their perfect complement in the cozy comfort that reigns in the hotel. inside.
Babington is an English country estate, moreover, Georgian. This typical style has reigned for many years and is by far the most popular in England. In Babington you live like a lord of old. But, thank heaven, the food does not look like the food of the past. Instead of roasting “anything with a vegetable”, we brought a city-like and cosmopolitan culinary culture from London. The Babington must be the only country property to have a wood-fired oven (where delicious homemade pizzas are made) and an industrial-strength cappuccino maker.
The Babington is just as innovative in its conception of interior fittings. There has even been a healthy disrespect for frilly chintz (printed cotton canvas) and family antiques. Result: the modern and the Georgian blend perfectly.
Cynics will answer that this is a country house for people who do not like the countryside but all those who have experienced the supposed romanticism of a few nights spent without that minimum of comfort which is called central heating. , unlimited hot water and drinkable coffee will confirm that romance does not gain anything from discomfort.
The more prosaic truth is that these elegant Georgian volumes require considerable maintenance and monstrous expense of heating. The idea of running this country house like a club was therefore very ingenious. The old dining room has become a "funky" bar; there are two restaurants and a fifty-seat cinema ¸ as to the bedrooms, they are lavishly equipped with bathrooms with showers large enough for two and freestanding bathtubs set up in front of the marble fireplaces.
In the old barns, we have installed a fitness center, a juice bar, a dance studio, an aerobics room and two heated swimming pools, one outside and one outside. interior, open throughout the year. A cold winter's day takes on a whole new turn if you start it with a good bath in the steam of an outdoor swimming pool surrounded by fields and cows.
All the luxuries of city life in no way detract from the authenticity of the house and its surroundings.
With seven hectares of land, Babington is a real estate first listed in 1370, which formed a community on its own. It still has its picturesque Sainte-Elizabeth chapel (which looks more like a church) at the end of an elegant tree-lined path. A manicured lawn, planted with oak trees, stretches in all directions without the shadow of a building, telegraph pole or road to spoil this Arcadian scene.
Gardens, architecture, history… Babington has it all, not to mention the necessary ingredient for a successful country house: an interesting list of regulars.
Like its counterpart in the city, Soho House, London's hottest club, Babington mixes the elites of film, television, radio and the arts with paying non-members, creating a busy atmosphere of a very British potential for scandal.
Babington House, Somerset BA11 3RW United Kingdom
Phone. : +44 (0) 1373 812266
Fax: +44 (0) +44 (0) 1373 813866
Website : https://www.babingtonhouse.co.uk/