Design firm: BWT, London
The details: Not all restoration projects have the luxury of time, but for Heckfield Place, an 18th-century country pile that anchors a 438-acre estate in the southern English county of Hampshire, that’s exactly what was afforded. Since first seeking planning permission in 2009, Boston-based entrepreneur Gerald Chan has been searching for a distinctive approach befitting his grand country house and secluded grounds that comprise gardens, greenhouses, and rolling hills. Chan settled on the design vision of Brit Ben Thompson of BWT, who previously worked for Ilse Crawford. Thompson won his first solo hotel commission by rooting his ideas in the surrounding landscape, anchored by illustrious British craftsmanship. The use of warm, natural materials was purposeful, Thompson says, to convey the richness of the red-bricked Georgian mansion. “It’s as if you’ve blown the dust off an old country estate and put in great furniture and updates, rather than feeling overdressed and in high heels.”

Links to the past abound, including marble fireplaces that bear original owner John Lefevre’s coat of arms, while oak shutters enclose sash windows with vistas out to the bucolic grounds. The reawakening has also called for contemporary additions that speak to the countryside: Rough-hewn lime plaster evokes an earthy quality, rich English oak provides an interplay with light, exposed brickwork offers an organic element, and tactile Irish linen dresses beds in the 46 bespoke rooms and signature suites. The muted color palette is the harmonious backdrop for paintings by British artists—all from Chan’s personal collection—found throughout the public spaces, which are meant to be used at different times of the day in response to the sun’s movement.