Room service

There was a time when country house hotels were a humbler proposition. Often family run, they provided their guests with simple pleasures: newspapers by the fire, good food, a comfortable bed in a grand setting. They were homely and definitely not setting the style zeitgeist as they do today.

Their shift to modernity didn’t happen overnight, but gained momentum when the doors opened to Babington House about 20 years ago. A Georgian property near Frome in Somerset, Babington ushered in a sense of cool. In came the leather. As the market for weekend breaks expanded and the clientele became younger, the experience had to change to match.