Page 226 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL MAGAZINE FALL 2023 DISCOVERING TURKEY

“We’re as much about service as finding the
Tapestry Room at Newton Surmaville.
A view of Newton Surmaville's lawn from the
entry hall.
Opposite: Newton Surmaville is a nine-
bedroom stately home in Somerset, England.
226 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE FALL 2023
right property,” explains Jonathan Townsend
Rose, who founded the company with his busi-
ness partner, Andrew Loyd, in 1999. “It’s
about giving clients things that they can’t nor-
mally get.”
This could include anything from booking
bagpipers to play on the lawn to setting up a
meeting with the Pope. (Yes, that actually
happened).
Many of LTR’s clients are mega-millionaire
celebrities accustomed to the high life. For
others, their LTR holiday—which may mark a
milestone birthday, anniversary, or multi-gen-
erational family reunion---is a once-in-a-life-
time opportunity to live like the lord or lady of
the manor in a fully staffed property, with a
chef to prepare every meal.
Eager for a taste of the good life myself, I’ve
signed up for what you might call a tapas tour,
with whirlwind stays at a trio of the roughly
350 properties in LTRs portfolio.
The first is Newton Surmaville, a 400-year-
old manor house in Somerset, about three
hours west of central London. Outwardly, the
nine-bedroom mansion is exactly what you
would expect—all golden stone and grandeur,
set on 62 acres alongside the River Yeo amid
gardens and grazing sheep. But stepping
through the sturdy oak door, I’m surprised by
how chic and contemporary it feels.
When the current owners bought the estate
in 2019, they hired acclaimed New York-based
designer Jeffrey Bilhuber---whose clients have
included David Bowie and Michael Douglas—
to introduce 21st Century style without jetti-
soning the past. Wood paneling, ornate plaster
ceilings, stone mantels, and 17th-century ta-
pestries remain, providing an elegant back-
drop for modern gathering spaces where
sleekly tailored furnishings mix effortlessly
with antiques.
The owner’s suite encompasses a spacious
bedroom with a Jacobean canopy bed, sepa-
rate dressing room, and a bathroom with a
clawfoot tub and free-standing glass-walled
shower. Meals, catered during my stay by the
talented Chef Tim Ford, are served either at