Stay & Play
Literati Lets: Three Landmark Trust Properties to Wake Up In
by Cherie DeLory
Modern luxury accommodation with a wellness spa and 5-star dining at my doorstep is appealing, but spending the night in a cozy abode, similar to what Jane Austen would have been accustomed to, is special on an entirely different level. The Landmark Trust is a British charity that invites guests to do just that. Historic houses, many of which were once the homes of authors, artists and composers, are masterfully restored and granted a renewed lease on life to be enjoyed by new generations.
Overnight accommodation in castles, gatehouses, churches, lighthouses and country houses across England, Scotland, Wales and Italy are among the over 200 properties in The Landmark Trust UK collection. Additionally, Landmark Trust USA has preserved five historic New England properties in the Vermont countryside, and Irish Landmark Trust boasts 33 eclectic heritage vacation rentals on the island of Ireland.
Three Landmark Trust properties that radiate nostalgic character, patina and timeworn charm:
Fans of the late English novelist Rudyard Kipling can stay at Naulakha, formerly Rudyard Kipling’s home in the Vermont Mountains in Dummerston from 1892 to1896. Named after a pavilion in Pakistan, the spacious and charismatic three-story Shingle Style estate was designed by architect Henry Rutgers Marshall and commissioned by Kipling to evoke a river boat sailing through the field. The 11-acre estate is where Kipling penned “The Jungle Book,” “Captains Courageous” and other favourites.
Celebrate Jane Austen’s 250th birthday at Luttrell’s Tower on the Solent Coast in Southampton, Hampshire, the port city where Jane attended boarding school as a teenager with her sister. Luttrell’s Tower is thought to be the only remaining structure by Thomas Sandby, the first professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy. Visit Jane Austen’s House, where Jane wrote all six of her beloved novels in the village of Chawton, Hampshire.
While in Ireland, The Schoolhouse at Annaghmore is the smartest place to stay in County Sligo. The former 1860s Tudor schoolhouse belonged to the woodland estate on the Owenmore River and is a short drive to the Drumcliffe Cemetery, and the grave site of Ireland’s lauded poet and dramatist, William Butler Yeats.
