Every year, Netherlands-based contributor Ben Lambers finds a reason to visit his favorite haunt in Belgium, the Boulevard Leopold. He recently got back from a work trip to Antwerp and couldn’t resist taking more photos of this impeccably outfitted 19th-century building in the Jewish district–and its endless, creative vignettes played across every available bookcase, mantle and tabletop. “It changed owners a few years ago,” he says. “But luckily, they didn’t change the atmosphere.”

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It’s not just that I love the idea of relaxing country house hotels (I do–especially when they’re covered in climbing wisteria), I’m also drawn to thoughtful, self-sustaining food-focused experiences that immerse you in your surroundings. Planted squarely in the middle of the New Forest in Hampshire, The Pig hotel is both. In fact, the owners refer to it as a “restaurant with rooms.” The chefs and on-site forager source 80 percent of the ingredients from their local woods and nearby beaches;  long walks wind through the gardens, greenhouse and forest; and there’s an onsite pig farm and chickens. You can even borrow a pair of Hunter wellies for the occasion. I’ll be covering this place in more detail in the next issue of Wayfare, but wanted to give you a sneak peek.

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Beyond interiors spun of pure decadence and grandeur, the property is also home to Sweden’s first outdoor pool with a slide from the second floor bathroom, a bowling alley, underground tunnels, and limestone statues of Nordic gods. These days, it’s owned by the Ljungberg family and part of the exclusive c/o hotels chain.

Andrew and Gemma spent their days meandering the various labyrinths, nooks, crannies and wide-open spaces. “We would wander up to the second floor of the main building to enjoy a cup of tea or coffee (served all day) in one of the many drawing rooms, or walk out on one of the many well marked trails, past horse farms and swimming spots and fields of wildflowers. We even found ourselves sampling the ripe plums and pears from the espalier–trained fruit trees that peppered the property.”

[All photos by Andrew and Gemma Hart Ingalls]

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If you’ve ever admired Koskela’s beautifully-made furniture and home goods, you might recognize the understated modern simplicity of this little getaway cottage located on the bay at Patonga, about an hour north of Sydney (home to their company’s newly expanded showroom). Koskela is an Australia heritage company, which means owners Russel Koskela and Sasha Titchkosky take extraordinary pride in making their furniture in Australia and carefully selecting the materials. The retreat’s interior channels those same design principles and aesthetic, creating a pared-down, clean-lined ode to the surrounding environment.

While Koskela’s renovation–especially those cool plywood walls–is pretty fantastic, my favorite part of Dickebusch is the story that comes  with it. Originally a Hudson’s ready-cut home from 1929, it was in the same family through several generations. In fact, there’s a sweet handwritten letter on their site from the previous owner that details the history of the name (in honor of an uncle who died in war), the neighborhood (from backyard tin-tub baths to hall dances) and the area (which she refers to as an “isolated little haven”).

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I have stayed at (and been thoroughly wooed by) the Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam, so I understand the excitement behind creative genius/hotelier Suzanne Oxenaar’s latest project: a working experiment designed by fashion students and grads from the Amsterdam Fashion Institute. It’s inspiring to see such a fantastically conceptual idea carried out on such a large scale. The idea is to treat–or “dress”–each of the 62 rooms like a fashion model. In Suzanne’s signature approach to design–both unapologetically gutsy and equally refined–no aesthetic is too conceptual or daring. Fabrics drape from the ceiling or cover entire walls in undulating folds and pleats, while hand-braided trimmings hang like the fringe of oversized epaulettes in a room dedicated entirely the ornamental shoulder piece. There’s an over-the-top Marie Antionette room and another based on the Emperor’s New Clothes fairytale, where nothing is what it seems. Custom fabrics are specially designed in collaboration with the Audax Textielmuseum, and Kvadrat gave students free reign of their archives in Denmark. There’s even a sewing machine in the lobby if guests are so inclined. The Exchange’s three buildings (one which dates back to the 17th century) sit across the street from the stock exchange–a detail that explains the naming conventions, including the restaurant and fashion shop, Stock and OPTIONS!, respectively.

[All photos by Mirjam Bleeker]

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I’m a sucker for a good road trip, especially one that ends at a sweet little cabin as magical as this. Texas-based writer/editor Shaunna Nygren recently met some friends in San Francisco and packed up the car for a coastal road trip along Highway One and  a few days in Santa Cruz. They managed to kill an entire day at the Bookshop Santa Cruz (highly recommended), but for the better part of their visit, it was all about the big rustic farm table in the backyard with a bottle of wine. Here, a first-hand report: 

We found a minimalistic one-bedroom cabin of sorts with off-beat charms and loads of character in Santa Cruz’s Westside. Michelle, our free-spirited hostess, greeted us donning a bikini and sarong offering up a home tour with tales of past drifters and travelers. She is an artist who works with brass, leather and bone— a hauntingly beautiful display of her creations are placed throughout the home. The result is a sort of gallery-meets-bed-and-breakfast. While we stayed in the studio out back, we had full access to the kitchen and bathrooms in the main house by way of a brick pathway. In the mornings, a freshly-baked poppy seed cake awaited us on the wooden kitchen table. The cabin out back is modest and fairly rustic with an antique brass bed, a distressed-wooden dresser and an old Decca record player (we packed our favorite records). It feels like your own secret hideaway. A big tin wash basin sits just outside the door but the most alluring feature is the claw-foot tub beneath a cascading willow tree. The gardens aren’t limited to flowers. Strange installations, found objects and salvaged lawn furniture are scattered among the greenery. It was an unexpectedly lovely stay. Every morning, we walked with our coffees in hand toward West Cliff, a path along the ocean, to take in the morning surf and fog. Rent it at airbnb.com.

[Photos: All photographs by Ashley Camper]

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When I was editing the design magazine in Chicago (but living in Detroit), I had to travel back to Chicago every few months and stay for a day or two. I always stayed in the same old frumpy hotel: The Whitehall Hotel, which used to be a private club back in the ’50s. We had trade with a bunch of hotels downtown, and the Whitehall—by almost all measures—was the least fancy, the least hip. The folks responsible for booking my reservation were always questioning my request: “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather stay [insert sterile modern box with a bustling business center and windowless gym lined with rows of treadmills]?” Nope. I’ll take the worn brick façade, faded green awnings, and painfully slow elevators (that can hold only two people and a small piece of rolling luggage at a time) any day of the week. The rooms are predominately innocuous—from the tacky, quilt-like bedspreads to the ubiquitous hotel art hanging on the nude-colored walls. I admit, most of the décor choices are not in good taste—and there might even be a plastic plant in the lobby. But still…in its own dated, slightly daggy way (I say this with the greatest affection), the old gal has character. And it certainly isn’t sterile.

In the name of comfort over bells, whistles and business centers (doesn’t everyone have an iPhone these days anyway? And do people still fax stuff?), I’ve rounded up the ultimate designtripper list of unsuspecting business hotels. Of course, they aren’t business hotels by definition (and you won’t earn any “points” staying here), but they do a quietly impressive job of catering to business travelers with thoughtful, inconspicuous perks.

From left: original Whitehall Club logo; Porches (photo via); Lute Suites; Olde Bell Inn; The Greenbrier

[Disclosure: This post is sponsored by The Marriott Rewards® Credit Card from Chase]

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There’s been a steady stream of journalists and photographers coming through Detroit lately, many of whom, like the Montreal-based travel writer Alexandra Redgrave (assignment: local craft for enRoute magazine), either stop or stay at Honor & Folly. It’s been great fun. After arriving from the airport (without her luggage), Alex and I grab a quick drink at Sugar House downstairs, and she gives me a recent copy of the magazine. Inside, I immediately spot a story she wrote about Tuscan farm estates, including Tenuta di Spannocchia–a gorgeous sprawl of a place with lemon trees, climbing ivy, crumbling farmhouses and animals.

“Spannocchia is rustic,” she tells me. “You’re not staying on a farm that was set up at the same time as the hotel to add to the overall bucolic experience; you’re visiting a working farm that has existed in some form or another for centuries. The spaces are sparse, with very simple furnishings but also a few unexpectedly ornate details.” Details that make you realize there’s something special at work. You know the type. A hand-painted porcelain sink covered in pink roses and a ceiling stamped with old family crests.

According to her story, the owner Randall Stratton has been running the 1,100-acre property for the last 20 years with his wife, Francesca, whose grandfather bought the land in 1925 to use as a writer’s retreat. Creative visitors have been leaving their mark on the property ever since–from a painter who is recreating Spannocchia’s entire history on the granary’s walls to an architecture student who helped rehab a guesthouse that previously sat abandoned for at least 30 years. My favorite quote from the owner, also an architect by training: “We’re not really restoring the property,” says Randall. “We’ve just adapted it to the modern world. I think it’s a monument to a way of life that has almost disappeared.”

The Details
To stay at Tenuta di Spannocchia, you have to be a member of the Spannocchia Foundation (it’s $45 a person or more, depending on membership level). Once that’s ironed out, you can rent one of the guesthouses, starting at about $1000 a week in low season. Or an individual room in the b&b for $113 a night.

[Photos from top: Danilo Scarpati (top two), via Tenuta di Spannocchia, Alexandra Redgrave, Danilo Scarpati, Alexandra Redgrave (last two)]

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Jess Hicks lives a couple doors down from my house, and Astro, the coffee shop she runs with her husband, Dai, is a couple doors down from Honor & Folly.  I could not wish for better neighbors at either place. Essentially, Astro acts like the communal breakfast table for the inn, and everyone who stays at Honor & Folly ends up making friends and learning about the city from folks who live here. It’s a glorious place (do yourself a favor and order a flat white and an anzac cookie), and I don’t think H&F guests would have the same experience if it didn’t exist.

When Jess isn’t baking up a storm at the shop, she runs a little side, pop-up-style business called Santa Rosa, and together, we have a series of exciting collaborations coming up (a monthly creative-ladies-who-lunch lunch date at H&F). We’ll also be in Chicago at the Dose Market April 15, selling a mix of Astro/Santa Rosa baked goods and Honor & Folly wares. If you live nearby, please stop by to say hello! We’d love to see you. Here, some photos from the Santa Rosa provisions market Jess organizes once in awhile in the shop when it’s closed on Monday. There’s fresh bread, beautifully packaged dry goods, her amazing cakes, and meat from Porktown Sausage, our brilliant neighborhood sausage makers. This week Jess whipped up the most delicious ricotta-spinach-raison spread and sold it in little tubs, and I’ve been gorging on it at every meal since.

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Patrizio Fradiani can’t help himself. A full-fledged serial vacation house renovation junkie, he and his partner, Mark, were in Italy last summer at their amazing Tuscan farmhouse (which I’ve written about here loads of times) when they took a day trip to the storybook hilltop town of Civita di Bagnoregio accessed only by footbridge, fell into its charming clutches–all ivy-covered stone arches, cobblestones and etruscan ruins–and bought one of the original stone houses sitting on top of cisterns. The house is pretty dilapidated, but like Patrizio’s previous vacation house projects, it’s sure to be unfathomably stunning, designed down to the most intricate detail and full of heart. Below, these images of the place–an ancient wreck dating back to 1300s–make it hard to believe it will be finished in August and ready for guests. He has orchestrated an aggressive design, build and decorate schedule, and he just returned last week from the initial stages, including some pretty grueling work like ripping out the long-neglected overgrown garden (to find grottoes). From now until August–when I’ll be staying there for a week with my family–I’ll be posting behind-the-scenes reports of his progress. Not only is Patrizio the very best kind of character (funny, charming and passionate), he’s also immensely talented and hard-working and for anyone interested in architecturally significant renovation, the transformation will be a thrill to watch.

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If I sound a bit moony, my apologies: I really love the story of this beautiful mountain lodge, which owners Stefano and Giorgia first bought as a holiday house before deciding to quit their jobs in the fashion industry, uproot their lives in the city and and move to the Italian countryside full-time with their three children. After rehabbing the 16th-century hunting house, the interior was thoughtfully decorated by Giorgia, who traveled around Europe picking out special pieces, both antique and modern. It has a humble farmhouse feel with lots of natural materials and a quiet, understated luxury. You have to rent the entire place; it’s not a bunch of rooms rented to different parties, and because they have kids, they understand how to design a space that truly caters to families (a big bunk room, outdoor whirlpool perfectly sized for kids, and activities like learning to chop wood). Guests come with loads of off-site plans, but once they see the place (and its steam room, ancient spruce sauna and magnificent grounds), Stefano says they end up ditching their itinerary to relax. And who’d blame them? Stafano and Giorgia are 100 percent-dedicated to doting on their guests–cooking dinner, picking out wine, leading mushroom-hunting excursions, and recommending hikes in the surrounding forests, mountains and meadows of the Dolomites. Rent it at welcomebeyond.com.

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Last week we got back from a week at Casa Ninamu, which I wrote about last year after meeting the lovely owners Anne Menke and Johann Ackermann and their three delightful, tow-headed boys. Staying there was a different kind of experience. It was less about the beautiful interiors–with built-in stucco sofas; colorful, handcrafted Mexican textiles; and cobalt blue walls that popped against the lush jungle surrounding it–and more about how we spent our time doing almost nothing at all.

There are so many things I love about the town of Sayulita that I never anticipated how much I’d enjoy staying just outside it. Aside from the thundering waves breaking on the beach (loud enough to wake me up on occasion), the insects and birds chirping up a storm, and the creature-rustling of the flora outside, there is absolute silence. It’s a quiet so deep, it makes a swaying palm frond sound louder than an ambulance hurtling down a city street. Most days, we wake up slowly–with a view of the ocean out the wide-open bedroom doors–and drink coffee, make breakfast and read, while our kids draw at the dining room table (also with a view of the ocean). By midmorning, the kids are swimming naked in the saltwater pool, chasing butterflies, hunting for iguanas and planning the day’s sandcastle design and fortification. We indulge in avid shell collecting, rock climbing, sand burying, crab chasing and jungle exploring, including a hike to a nearby town that was rerouted by high tide up a densely-forested Monkey Mountain over the course of six dreadful hours. Later we laugh about it. Much later. My five-year-old invented a game that involves throwing a fallen coconut into the waves and waiting for it to come rushing back onto the shore, prompting a highly competitive chase-and-grab element. And it’s not until day seven that I realize we never made it to those restaurants we wanted to try, or organized a tour of the nearby cliffs and hot springs we heard about. Instead our entire trip was an endless pleasure cycle of lazing about–pool, play, eat, nap, hammock, beach, repeat. The very best kind of travel, an actual vacation.

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In the debut issue of Wayfare–an extremely well-designed, brand-new online travel magazine–I wrote about photographer Bob Coscarelli and his wife Karen Valentine’s one-night farm and food adventure at Babylonstoren in the South African winelands. It’s a stunning sprawl of a place in the Cape Dutch vernacular, where all eight acres are wide-open for the exploring, picking and tasting. Their brief stay reminded me how much enjoyment you can pack into a single day. Answer: a lot, apparently. Preferably in the form of orchard traipsing, herbal baths and fireside picnics. And since every vista and vignette is as stunning as the next, here are a few bonus photographs from their trip that really capture the intimacy of the spaces–and how the interior and garden feel so connected.

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Vanessa Boz from the family travel site, BozAround, recently got back from a weekend getaway in the heart of Somerset with her adorable family. A three-hour drive from their homebase in central London, Babington House is an iconic English country house hotel from Soho House set on 18 rolling acres. Here’s the thing: you’d never know from the beautiful photos, but the place is a dream for kids. “It doesn’t try too hard,” says Vanessa, who calls it homey and modern–with lots of working fireplaces and blankets on lazy sofas–and has a charming worn-in aesthetic. It’s a nice balance with the classic, formal buildings. And with everyone all aflutter about Downton Abbey, I thought the place would be particularly appealing.

The Details
I’m really attracted to are all the subtle, interesting ways the property caters to kids. You don’t feel like you’re sacrificing every your own experience by traveling with kids. Rather, it’s like a well-executed afterthought. The family suites are duplex-style with a huge bathtubs and playstations hidden in the cupboard. “The swimming pool is really big, indoor and outdoor, warm water, wonderful,” says Vanessa. “There’s a cinema room with popcorns and movies for the children and a complimentary dinner for kids every day in the restaurant at tea-time.”

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This time last year, we were planning our big road trip to New Orleans, where we stayed in an incredible set of historic antebellum homes with beautiful antiques, a slate pool, sprawling outdoor courtyard and secret passageways. We were in the city for a mere week, which gave me the itch to come back, to stay longer, to linger. New Orleans is the kind of place you want to settle into and make friends and develop some kind of routine–preferably one that involves daily walks down streets so thick with majestic oaks they feel like tunnels and visits to Satsuma Cafe (one of the yummiest, most laid-back cafes I’ve ever been to in the United States).

A lovely homebase for all of that, 714 Nicholls is one of the more unsung spots of the Coppola collection, perhaps because it’s a standalone house, not a hotel, and you have to stay for at least 60 days. But to me, that’s its charm. This French Quarter creole cottage forces you to create a temporary residence. It gives you time to spend long hours with a book on the leafy veranda and three kitchens to make grand dinners, instead of ticking away at obligatory tourist hit lists.

Inside, the decor leans toward an eccentric French style with peeling plaster, velvet sofas and plenty of antiques, and the aesthetic spills outside onto the lush patio that  could easily pass for a hidden Parisian garden. Billed as a perfect spot for long-term creative retreats or film execs, the space can be split up, offering two distinct suites (with full kitchens), plus four additional bedrooms.

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