By Rebecca Elliot
Craving an escape to the country? Do it in style by booking The Newt in Somerset’s Great Garden Escape.
Ordinarily, this five-star hotel might be off limits for most of us, as rooms start from £700 a night. But did you know you can visit for the day and get a taste of the high life for half the price?
It’s a perfect day out for garden lovers, or anyone who has always wanted to visit The Newt. Plus, it makes a great gift for birthdays or Christmas, with the festive season just around the corner.
Read on to find out what a ticket to The Newt in Somerset’s Great Garden Escape includes and how you can still get one.
The Newt hotel Great Garden Escape review
Where is The Newt hotel?
The Newt hotel is in the Somerset countryside just outside Bruton, a cool village dubbed ‘the new Notting Hill’ that’s known for its art scene and upmarket restaurants.
Though it can be reached by car, The Great Garden Escape package means you are whisked away on a train from London as part of the experience.
In just over two hours you arrive at Castle Cary station. The Newt is another 10-minute drive away, but you won’t need to make your own way there as a coach will be waiting to take you to the hotel.
What’s included in your Great Garden Escape ticket?
A ticket to The Newt in Somerset’s Great Garden Escape includes first-class train travel on a Great Western Train from London Paddington to Castle Cary station, leaving in the morning at 8.30am.
This is followed by a welcome drink, tour of the hotel’s spectacular gardens and 30-acre grounds, and lunch in the Garden Café.
After lunch, guests can sample some of the estate-made cider and take a tour of The Newt’s Cider Cellar. Then there’s time to visit The Newt’s farm shops or take another walk around the gardens until it’s time to get the train back to London at around 4.30pm.
What food and drink is on offer?
Refreshments are on offer throughout the day, so you won’t have to pay for anything extra unless you buy something from the farm shops. This means all your food and drink, from breakfast to afternoon tea on the train back is included in the ticket price.
I was welcomed with a cup of English Breakfast Tea as I arrived at the First Class Lounge. From there our group was gently ushered towards our designated train carriage where a thoughtfully curated ‘breakfast picnic’ of fresh pastries, fruit and yoghurt was served at our seats.
Once at the hotel, we were greeted with a glass of the estate’s own sparkling apple juice – the perfect refreshment on a beautiful sunny day. Later on, a three-course lunch was served in the hotel’s glass-walled Garden Café, where tables enjoy sweeping views across the grounds as you eat from their vegetable-led menu made with produce grown on the estate.
Menus change with the seasons and are served sharing plate style. When I visited, a starter of asparagus was paired with vibrant beetroot that felt entirely in keeping with the gardens themselves.
Making vegetables the stars of the show, mains were roasted cauliflower with lentils, purple sprouting broccoli with barbecued turnip, onion and wild garlic pesto, and a ‘side’ of braised beef with mustard cabbage and fermented dill.
Dessert was baked pear with quinoa crumble and pumpkin seed served on vegan gelato. This was complemented by a crisp, summery rosé from Babylonstoren, The Newt’s sister estate in South Africa.
The cider tasting that followed was just as delicious. The Newt approaches cider making with the same reverence as fine wine, using 100% apples and traditional methods. The result is refined and genuinely surprising. I left with three bottles, which says it all.
All too soon it was time to return to the train, but not before we were presented with a generous afternoon tea, fresh from The Newt’s bakery, for the journey home. It was a fittingly indulgent end to a beautifully curated day that has you plotting your return before you’ve even left.
How was the garden tour?
The gardens at The Newt have been carefully cultivated for more than 200 years and are truly something to behold. It was first brought to life in 1880 when horticulturalist Margaret Hobhouse moved to the honeycombed Hadspen House as the new wife of Henry Hobhouse, a Liberal politician who served as the MP for East Somerset until 1906.
These days her legacy remains in the Winter Garden, built on the same site as her heated glasshouse. There’s also a Victorian Fragrance Garden in her honour that’s in full bloom in spring and summer.
Gardener extraordinaire Penelope Hobhouse, who married into the family, gave Hadspen a new lease of life when she moved to the estate in the 1970s. Then Canadian planting designer Nori Pope and his wife Sandra took over the reins in the 1980s, making it the most talked about garden in Britain, until they left Hadspen in 2005.
Additions since then include The Parabola, a unique, curved walled garden that entwines around an apple tree maze, and The Viper Walkway, a 40ft path that winds above the forest floor offering elevated views of the orchards and estate. There’s also a grotto, where children are warned not to disturb the ‘wyvern’, a mythical dragon-like creature.
As part of The Great Garden Escape package you are treated to a guided tour of the gardens. Led by one of The Newt’s expert gardeners, it brings their fascinating history to life. I particularly loved the mesmerising Colour Gardens (pictured above) that were first planted by the Popes 40 years ago.
Does your ticket include anything else?
Yes, once you book a stay at The Newt, or a ticket to one of their experiences like The Great Garden Escape, you automatically get a 12-month Newt Membership so you can return to visit again at a time of your choosing.
When is the next one on?
The Newt in Somerset’s Great Garden Escape runs every year, but if you’re quick you can still bag tickets to the remaining 2026 dates. They are Friday September 18, Friday September 25 and Saturday September 26. There’s also a special winter garden escape happening on Friday December 4. Check back on this page to see when the 2027 dates are announced.
How much does it cost and how do I book?
The Great Garden Escape at The Newt is £375pp and is on selected dates throughout the year. Children are welcome. Gift tickets are also available.
Book The Great Garden Escape at Afternoon Tea at The Newt hotel
*The Boutique Handbook’s visit was complimentary, but we always give honest reviews
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