Why e book
Bucolic Litchfield, within the northwestern nook of Connecticut, has by no means actually been wanting followers, however if you happen to’re in search of contemporary causes to go to, contemplate Belden House & Mews. A colonial revival mansion that’s been reimagined right into a 31-room resort by the extremely regarded Champalimaud Design, it each holds a mirror to Litchfield’s historic design legacy and is a little bit of a vacation spot in its personal proper.
Set the Scene
While Belden House is ready again some from the busy village heart, that is very a lot a high-street, center-of-town resort. However, as soon as inside, that hardly issues since you’re transported into one other world. The important manse, the locus of consideration, was inbuilt 1888 within the Queen Anne revival model however has been outfitted with a extra stylish, age-defying id that bridges its historic attraction with the extra clean-lined fashionable aesthetic of the 1959 Mews constructing in the back of the property that holds the remainder of the rooms. In its formal drawing room, wearing shades of dusty pink, buttery yellow, and lichen-green, {couples} and small households collect on curved bay window seats for preprandials and hushed chatter, earlier than heading in direction of the eating room and what’s the piece de resistance of the property: a placing acid-green bar anchored by a big ceramic cheetah lamp. On my first night, I used to be drawn to this beguiling nook like a moth to flame, the place I joined a neighborhood couple who stated they have been thrilled to have an upscale however intimate date-night spot on the town. My first order—a rhubarb Negroni—was a serendipitous win, and one I returned to by my keep. Across the lounge, and behind a velvet drape, sits a non-public dining-room-slash-library in probably the most delectable shade of pink and anchored by a tiered silk Fortuny chandelier. Of all of the frequent areas, this one, with its melange of objects—books, lamps, and historic ephemera—is closest to the collectibles-filled design ethos of sister property Troutbeck.
Backstory
Belden House is designed by AD100 agency Champalimaud Design that’s liked for its trendy panache, and is behind resorts like Raffles in Singapore, the Beverly Hills Hotel—and Hudson Valley-favorite Troutbeck, a historic manor on a river-run property in Amenia. Alexandra Champalimaud is a longtime Litchfield resident, as is her son and Belden proprietor Anthony, who relocated from New York some 10 years in the past. In restoring the beforehand derelict property, the Champalimauds have contributed to a contemporary burst of hospitality vitality in Litchfield, becoming a member of two different new properties (additionally occupying revived outdated areas), the Abner and Lost Fox Inn. In reinvigorating the mansion and the mews, the design staff, which included structure agency PBDW, has meticulously restored authentic fireplaces, bay home windows, stately pocket doorways with glass knobs—even dumbwaiters—however with a watch on extra modern craftsmanship. Guests to Belden can be handled to the works of native artists: the bespoke sconces and lamps in scrumptious glazes come from Dumais Made; the tactile grasscloth wall coverings are made by Twenty2 wallpaper; the flowers are from beloved native nursery White Flower Farm; and so forth.
When I visited in May, work was underway on the third pillar of the property, a 1891-born firehouse which, when it opens within the fall of 2025, will change into obtainable for social gatherings or enterprise occasions. A National Historic Landmark, the brick-clad Firehouse is related to Belden by a footpath behind the Mews or may be accessed from the village inexperienced.
The Rooms
In choosing a room in the principle home, of which there are 10, or within the mews, you’re basically selecting between a extra modern setting or a extra textured one. The mews, in the back of the three-acre property, is a modernist addition with 21 guestrooms, some with personal terrace gardens which have simply been planted. Here, you will see clean-lined four-poster beds, fashionable seating, Vitsoe shelving—it’s nonetheless elegant however much more linear. We stayed in a spacious one-bedroom suite on the second flooring within the North Street-facing nook of the principle home, and a fast sprint up the grand staircase from the restaurant and bar. The house was filled with reminders of previous lives: a nook revealed an authentic dry bar now lined with wallpaper and holding snacks and drinks; two roaring fireplaces with authentic tile hearts; and a light-filled front room got here with a stunning bay window. Still, amid the preserved particulars and luxurious palette, have been loads of fashionable conveniences: Wildsmith merchandise within the bogs, heated flooring, Tivoli audio system, and Frette linens. And whereas the suite is bathed in a mushy mild by day, it’s by night time that it actually cocoons: Retreat into the lounge and sink right into a tufted velvet chair with a pour of the house-made espresso martini or flick on the fireside within the room and climb into the four-poster mattress with a e book by the mushy glow of your bedside Dumais Made lamp.
To flip it up a number of notches, you would possibly need to contemplate the 2100-square-foot penthouse suite. Here three attractive bedrooms are tied along with massive residing areas (all of that are charmingly tucked underneath the mansion’s turrets and gable roof)—and a non-public terrace for sundowners or early morning yoga, whichever manner you swing. The kitchenette is serviced straight from the restaurant kitchen through a dumbwaiter, and as with all of the rooms, butler service is accessible 16 hours a day.
Food & Drink
Mealtimes are loved within the serene and complicated eating room with its tiled fire, striped banquettes, Josef Hoffman eating chairs, and ceramic sconces by Brooklyn-based lighting design studio In Common With. The menu is helmed by Tyler Heckman, a Connecticut native who lower his enamel in New York, and is elegant and thoughtfully sourced however approachable. Dinner standouts included New England oysters with a horseradish jam, agnolotti with pistachio and saffron, and halibut with summer season beans lifted by kafir lime—all finest accompanied with a number of of the wonderful libations common from regionally distilled spirits and seasonal components by bartender Michele Alfonso. For breakfast, you’d do effectively to order the candy potato pancakes with its rockpool of spiced brown butter or the granola and berries served with yogurt sourced from close by Arethusa farm. A smaller menu (lobster roll; chowder; salad) is accessible to order within the room in addition to by the heated pool tucked into the again of the property. For teams of six to 10, the library gives a non-public eating house that may be booked forward.
There are a number of choices for eating out within the city, beginning with the eating places and cafes that flank the village inexperienced a two-minute stroll away. That’s additionally the place you’ll discover the Abner, one other new boutique resort repurposed from the city’s outdated courtroom that boasts a rooftop with cocktails and views in addition to a contemporary tavern-style restaurant. In the city of Bantam, seize an ice-cream or milkshake from Arethusa Creamery connected to a small dairy plant within the historic Bantam firehouse; (the homeowners additionally run Arethusa al tavolo, a whole “dairy-to-table” expertise)—or espresso and salted chocolate chip cookies from Krafted Brew Lab, a haven for espresso purists. Right by Bantam Lake sits West Shore Seafood, the place we spent a day enjoying garden video games with lobster rolls and rum punches for firm. In New Preston, a brief drive away, Smith Cafe’s gives wonderful sandwiches and smoothies finest loved on benches within the solar. For dinner, there’s Pink House the place the chef, with expertise at Michelin-starred eating places, dispenses craft cocktails and considerate, seasonal dishes. Or Community Table, the place the components are regionally sourced and the vibe is spirited—and the probabilities of working into cool locals are excessive.
The Service
Much like in Troutbeck, the service at Belden House is polished and attentive. The employees right here can be found to take care of any wants however step again to provide you house and privateness—so don’t count on always-on coddling. The butler service, obtainable 16 hours every day is a stunning contact.
The Neighborhood
Litchfield, which boasts pristine landscapes and fantastically preserved properties and estates in comparable colonial and colonial revival types to Belden, is on the nationwide register of historic locations and has a slew of firsts to its identify together with the nation’s first regulation faculty and one of many nation’s first colleges for girls. Less identified is its extra fashionable underpinning: dozens of placing mid-century fashionable buildings designed by a number of the period’s most distinguished architects, together with Bauhaus architect Marcel Breuer. Not surprisingly, Litchfield county–which it is best to consider as a series of villages, and never simply Litchfield city, which is its beating coronary heart—has lengthy attracted rich tastemakers to arrange residence. The pandemic, nevertheless, introduced an inflow of ingenious younger creatives who’ve now opened design studios, outlets, and eating places, signaling a brand new period for the area. For design lovers, the inexperienced holds treasures like Milton Market, a classy residence items and items retailer (assume classic transferware and blockprinted linens) that additionally shares many native artists and Jeffrey Tilou that makes a speciality of 18th and Nineteenth-century American furnishings and people artwork. You can’t miss Dumais Made, a ceramics and lighting studio in close by Bantam. And extra treasures await in close by cities like New Preston and Falls Village which have outlets full of each antiques and native craft. No go to to Lithfield is full with no go to to The White Memorial Conservation Center, and particularly, the Little Pond Boardwalk, an elevated walkway that permits guests to expertise the wetland setting. Definitely match within the Topsmead State Forest the place you possibly can tramp concerning the in depth grounds surrounding the erstwhile summer season residence of Edith Morton Chase, a neighborhood philanthropist. Check for excursions of her Tudor Revival residence and the English-style backyard full of holly, lilac, and juniper bushes. If you may have extra Modernist leanings, take a look at the Oliver Wolcott Library’s new wing, designed by Eliot Noyes, a member of the Harvard Five or The Litchfield High School designed by Marcel Breuer; the Intermediate School subsequent door was designed by John Johansen. A gem in these elements is the Ripley Waterfowl Conservancy with over 90 species of water birds—elegant swans and screaming geese abound, as do migratory guests just like the spectacled Eider—throughout pristine greens. Remember to provide the birds their house: some have vivid personalities.
The Spa
Behind the Mews room sits the Bathhouse, the place very like at Troutbeck’s wellness barn, there’s a small health club with NOHrD tools (that just about seems to be too good-looking to make use of), dry sauna, steam room, hydrotherapy and chilly plunge and therapy rooms for pores and skin and physique remedies utilizing British-made Wildsmith merchandise. Some of the therapy rooms open straight into the moist areas, which is a considerate design element. I made a decision to do the “circuit”: a dry sauna, a scrub, an ice chilly bathe (I screamed), and a steam. I want I may say I additionally made use of the heated pool throughout the trail, however the climate performed spoilsport for a lot of the time we have been there so I needed to be content material with wanting on longingly at what may’ve been.
Families
Belden House & Mews and its accompanying restaurant, welcome youngsters ages 12+. Ask for rooms with interconnecting doorways; bigger teams ought to contemplate the penthouse fits that’s much less resort and extra like the house you want you had.
Accessibility
The property gives two ADA-accessible guestrooms, one on the bottom flooring of Belden House and one within the Mews. The public areas, together with the eating room, of the property are all ADA-accessible.
Anything else to say?
Belden House is a really totally different expertise from Troutbeck, which is extra a rural property. The Champalimauds hope that friends will see the attraction in staying at each, given they’re simply 40 minutes aside. I’d suggest beginning at Belden and soaking in all that Litchfield County has to supply earlier than heading to Amenia and spreading your self out over Troutbeck’s 250 acres of formal gardens, woodlands, and pastures.