Castle Cary is a small market town in Somerset, a rural county in southwest England, about 115 miles southwest of London by rail. It is the kind of place many international readers may not know, but in recent years it has become tied to one of Britains most visible countryside luxury projects.
That project is The Newt in Somerset , a large country estate developed by South African billionaire Koos Bekker and his wife, Karen Roos. The estate sits near Castle Cary and Bruton and has grown into a major hospitality and tourism destination that now helps define how outsiders see this part of England.
Bekker is best known in African business circles for helping build Naspers into a global media and technology group. In Somerset, his footprint is different. It is physical, local and highly visible, centered on gardens, farmland, hotels, restaurants and a visitor experience built around a working estate.
