Feeling at home abroad
Eight properties that extend a cosy feel and warm welcome
Hotels conjure a sense of home in a few common ways, including the warmth of the proprietors, the intimacy of the property (even on sprawling grounds) and the cosiness of the rooms. For those seeking a sense of the familiar abroad, these eight properties extend a homey welcome.
England: Batty Langley's, London
If your idea of home is an 18thcentury townhouse with period furnishings in London's Spitalifields neighbourhood, consider Batty Langley's, a 29-room newcomer from the owners of the city's similarly historic Hazlitt's and the Rookery. Named for the architect and landscape designer Batty Langley, the boutique hotel evokes a stay with the gentry via cosy, firelit public rooms. Rooms from £195 (S$381).
Greece: Eumelia, Laconia
The owner, Mr Frangiskos Karelas, aims to make guests feel like family at Eumelia, a 20ha organic farm his ancestors have operated since the 1890s, located about 45 minutes' drive south-east of Sparta in the Peloponnese region. Guests are invited to harvest fruit, pick olives, collect almonds and press grapes. Five modern stained concrete houses provide apartment-like accommodation. Rooms from €100 (S$153), including breakfast.
France: La Borde Maison d'Hotes & Spa, Burgundy
Originally a moat-ringed 14thcentury castle, much of which burned during the French Revolution, La Borde Maison d'Hotes & Spa in rural Burgundy retains its fortress sense of home, from the stone walls that surround it to the rustic wood rafters in its five suites. Opened as a hotel in 2012, the property also has 7ha of gardens which border the buildings. Rooms start at €325 .
Germany: La Maison, Saarlouis
Named after the French word for home, and just 10km from France, the new La Maison, a Design Hotel, straddles old and new definitions of home. Its 38 rooms are spread between a 19th-century former court building and a modern, aluminium-shuttered addition. Rooms mix vintage and contemporary furniture and range from minimalist models to more traditional suites. Rooms from €105.
Italy: Masseria Trapana, Puglia
For those seeking peace and privacy, Masseria Trapana provides both for them in a 16th-century farmhouse recently converted into a nine-room resort in the southern Puglia region. Nearly 61ha of olive groves buffer the property where grandly proportioned rooms feature exposed stone walls and floors, and some include private gardens and outdoor soaking tubs. Rooms from €500 for two nights' minimum, including breakfast.
The Netherlands: Pulitzer Amsterdam
Tours in Amsterdam commonly highlight the city's trim and tidy canal houses, and those with real estate envy can try one out for a night or two at the Pulitzer Amsterdam. A series of 25 interconnected canal houses, dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, comprise the hotel, hosting 225 individually designed rooms. Rooms from €269.
Portugal: Casa Modesta, Algarve
Three generations of the Brito family now run Casa Modesta, their 1940s-vintage home on the edge of the Ria Formosa Natural Park, a coastal lagoon in the southern Algarve region. Last year, a renovation of the rural home created nine guest rooms overlooking the wetlands. Rooms from €90.
Majorca: Sant Francesc Hotel Singular, Palma de Majorca
The 19th-century home of the Alomar Femenia family on Majorca, built to express the owner's wealth in one of the city's oldest quarters, was large enough to house 42 guest rooms when it was converted into the Sant Francesc Hotel Singular last year. Rooms from €300.
NEW YORK TIMES
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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on June 12, 2016, with the headline Feeling at home abroad. Subscribe
