When South African billionaire Koos Bekker bought an old country estate in a sleepy corner of Somerset to turn it into a luxury hotel, residents thought it was a sign their area was on the up. Walking through his peaceful manicured gardens, which feature a maze of apple trees twisted into perfect shapes using the espalier method, it’s easy to feel that all is well in this quiet, picturesque pocket of England. But if you venture beyond the orchards and into the local pubs, where the local cider sets tongues wagging, you’ll hear a very different story.
Bekker has been embroiled in a row with local people over a number of issues ranging from the vast expansion of his estate, the use of pesticides on it and branding deals – described as “brazen” by one local person – which have seen the local train station named after his hotel, the Newt in Somerset. The businessman has a net worth of about £3bn and is the chair of Naspers, one of the world’s biggest technology firms. He has been buying thousands of acres around Bruton and Castle Cary – more than 2,700 acres (1,090 hectares), according to Guardian analysis – through his company Emily Estate (UK) Limited, which trades as the Newt.
As well as swathes of the countryside, Bekker has also snapped up high street businesses from a deli to a beauty parlour, as well as pretty former farmhouses and local pubs. And it is this expansion of Bekker’s influence beyond the boundaries of the Newt – beloved of celebrities such as Charli xcx and Kate Moss – into the heart of the local Somerset villages where tensions have begun to emerge. Bekker is not the only moneyed arrival in this corner of Somerset.
The area boasts famous residents including former chancellor George Osborne, fashion designer Stella McCartney, and broadcaster Mariella Frostrup. The George pub in the centre of Castle Cary currently serves senior citizens a hot dinner for just £12, but local people do not expect these prices will remain now the Newt has bought the inn: a bag of chocolate buttons in its farm shop costs £11.95, while a bottle of “cyder” grown on the estate is £12.50. Bekker bought the 17th-century manor Hadspen House in 2013, along with 16 acres of land, converting it into the luxury hotel.
Last year he acquired Yarlington Lodge, a Grade II-listed Georgian house a mile away, and converted it into a 32-guest property with its own pool, tennis court and cinema room. He is hardly a silent investor – the sign for the local train station, Castle Cary, now reads “Castle Cary for the Newt”. By the tracks is the new Creamery cafe, which serves afternoon tea in a vintage Pullman carriage at £45 a head.
Hugh Thomas, a food writer from Frome, said the renaming of the station seemed “arrogant and brazen”, adding: “The station does feel somewhat colonised by the Newt regardless, which I find an encroaching thing, given it is supposed to be a public service.” Some, though, have welcomed the investment, saying it has cheered up a previously unloved train station and the Bekker family were creating jobs as well as bringing new people to the area to eat in the restaurants and drink in the pubs. Visitors to the £800-a-night Newt hotel are invited to enjoy being immersed in the nature of deep Somerset. The hotel recently welcomed a cage of endangered red squirrels.
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