Babington House

A lake, a small Georgian church and a stone house at the end of a country drive near Frome make up the heart of Babington House, which Soho House opened in 1998 as its first club outside London. The idea was new at the time: a members' club with bedrooms, set in the Somerset countryside and run with the informality of a weekend among friends rather than the rituals of a traditional country house hotel.

History

Nick Jones founded Soho House in 1995 in a townhouse on Greek Street in London's Soho, as a club for people working in film, media and the creative industries. Babington was the group's first expansion and its first venture into the country, at a time when the London club was still young.

Its success shaped what followed. The mix of bedrooms, relaxed dining, a spa, swimming and a welcome for families became the pattern for later Soho House country properties, and the products created for its spa travelled far beyond Somerset. For many members, Babington set the tone for the whole idea of a country weekend in the club's style.

Architecture and design

The main house is a Georgian building of stone set in landscaped grounds beside a lake. Next to it stands the church of St Margaret, a small eighteenth-century church that gives the estate the look of a village in miniature. The interiors avoided period reconstruction from the start. Vintage and contemporary furniture, modern art, open fires and deep sofas sit within the Georgian rooms, and several outbuildings around the house were converted into bedrooms and club spaces.

Rooms and suites

Bedrooms are spread across the main house and the converted outbuildings. A stay can therefore feel domestic, inside the house among the club's lounges, or more detached, in a separate building across the grounds. Rooms in the main house keep the proportions of the Georgian interiors, while those in the outbuildings have a more relaxed, rural character.

Dining

The House Kitchen is the main restaurant, serving seasonal British cooking with an emphasis on produce from the West Country. Meals are informal, and the dining rooms are shared by members staying over, members visiting for the day and their guests.

Wellness

The spa occupies a converted cowshed, and the building gave its name to Cowshed, the range of bath and body products later used throughout Soho House and sold well beyond it. Facilities include treatment rooms, an indoor pool and a gym, and there is an outdoor pool in the grounds as well. A small cinema shows films for members and guests.

Weddings and events

Babington House hosts weddings, with the house, the grounds and the church of St Margaret beside it forming the setting. Private parties also take place here.

Location

The house lies in the countryside north-west of Frome, in the east of Somerset, close to the villages of Kilmersdon and Mells. Frome is an old market town known for its independent shops and monthly market. Bruton, home of the Hauser & Wirth gallery at Durslade Farm, is within easy driving distance to the south, and Bath is around fifteen miles to the north. Wells, with its cathedral, lies to the west. Longleat, the Elizabethan house of the Marquesses of Bath with its safari park, is a short drive south of Frome, and the landscape garden at Stourhead lies further on. Frome station has trains to Bath and some direct services to London Paddington, and Bristol Airport is the nearest airport. As a luxury hotel near Frome, Babington is closer in spirit to a private club than to a conventional hotel, and that has been its appeal since the first weekend.