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Why we should revisit our favourite destinations once lockdown has lifted

Photo credit: Taylor River Lodge
Photo credit: Taylor River Lodge

From Town & Country

Tamara Lohan is the co-founder and chief executive officer at Mr & Mrs Smith, a global travel club known for curating the world’s most unique and beautiful hotels.

How do you talk about travel when it’s currently a dirty word? As Covid-19 has spread, I’ve seen our beloved industry fall to pieces first-hand. It’s tragic to have what you love most associated with fear and worry throughout the world – we’ve previously seen disasters affecting travel in different countries at different times of the year, but never to this scale.

Revisiting our favourite holiday destinations brings back fond memories for us all. I think nostalgia during this strange time has been a feeling that has resonated with lots of people – a yearning for the time before the virus, when we had freedom of movement, when we weren’t afraid or so stressed. Thinking about holidays, whether it’s a beautiful view or the feeling of sand between your toes, can have a hypnotic, calming effect – it certainly has for me.

To see the livelihoods of so many people who rely on this beautiful industry be washed away has been devastating. Personally, I went through the stages of loss quickly. I grieved, but quickly moved on to acceptance and as a practical person started planning and acting more decisively than ever to secure the future of my baby, Mr & Mrs Smith. I set about helping our members get the best possible outcome from their decimated travel plans while also helping our hoteliers who are suffering equally. I’ve had weeks of difficult conversations.

Now, as whispers of travel opening back up start to spread, the chance to once again explore far and wide is what’s kept the Mr & Mrs Smith team and I burning bright. It may still be too early to get excited and start packing our cases (the UK government still warns against all non-essential overseas travel), but we will get there. During this difficult time, we’ve been kept motivated by our belief in the industry’s recovery – whenever that may be – the knowledge that we’ve done as much as we can as a team to get through this, warm wishes from our members, their patience as we work through thousands of cancellations, and their hopes of being able to travel again. We want to get back to championing the small boutique hotels around the world that we feel are so special, who support their local communities and go above and beyond – and further still – to create incredible experiences for our members.

During lockdown, James, my partner in work and life, and I have been dreaming of all the places we have been and the ones we’ll return to when this is all over. Over the dinner table, one of our favourite topics of lockdown conversation is sharing our fondest memories of our travels together with our children Tom (13) and Ally (10). They've been so lucky to have already been to more than 300 hotels and 21 different countries with us; they’re very well travelled already, but of course with us as parents that was always going to be the case! We each have our own stories from each trip but they are shared experiences and so bring us together as a family unit.

Before all this happened, I was often asked about my favourite hotels – it’s immensely hard to choose, but these reminiscences have reminded me of the places I would go back to at the drop of a hat and the memories we made there that I will treasure. So, here’s my lockdown wishlist…

Morukuru Ocean House, South Africa

Photo credit: DOOK
Photo credit: DOOK


I think the reason I loved Morukuru Ocean House so much was that it felt so far from anything – a true get-away-from-it-all stay. It’s at least a three-hour drive from any town. This villa and boutique hotel is set in the vast De Hoop Nature Reserve at the edge of a cliff above the Indian Ocean, where whale pods swim close by in season (from June to November). Our kids loved it because near the water’s edge are white powder-soft sand dunes which they spent hours surfing down. We spent our days exploring rock pools; going barefoot in the sand; spotting ostrich, zebra and baboons in the windswept greenery on safari rides; and gazing out over the ocean – I haven’t felt that serene before or since.

The Newt, Somerset

Photo credit: The Newt
Photo credit: The Newt

It’s rare to find a hotel so staggeringly beautiful as the Newt which occupies the remodelled Hadspen House. It has gorgeous grounds and acres of apple orchards, plus a full working cider press cleverly integrated into the estate. (Top tip: September is the perfect time to see this in action.) There’s everything you could want from a luxury country hotel: it’s stylish (the work of Karen Roos, the former editor of South Africa’s Elle Decoration) but well suits the architecture and surrounds, a look of understated luxury rather than something too fashion-conscious. It also has a wonderful spa. We loved the food too: an array of home-foraged, distilled and baked goods, with casual and fine-dining picks depending on your mood. The view is very important, and those of the greenery and orchards from the café do the trick. The hotel’s an extraordinary project, and includes a museum dedicated to gardens and gardening around the world too. In my opinion, it’s one of the best country house hotels in the UK right now.

Taylor River Lodge, Colorado

Photo credit: Taylor River Lodge
Photo credit: Taylor River Lodge

The luxe Taylor River Lodge in leafy Almont is very unassuming at first. Upon arrival you’ll find just a humble turn-off from the main road before suddenly entering a mini wilderness of your own. In front of the main house lies a lake, and water from its namesake river trickles along behind the property – creating a nature-blessed haven. It’s the sort of stay that reveals itself slowly: its wow-factor increases as you discover the swimming pool, games room, the very well-stocked free minibar… Here you’ll find the ideal mix of escapism and adventure with a home-from-home feel, and there’s a playfulness to this property – there are yard games aplenty, a climbing wall, axe-throwing area and marksman range – perfect (if sometimes hair-raising) for a family getaway with older kids. This was where my son learnt to fly-fish and caught his first trout – he’s an extremely active boy and it was the first time I’d seen him concentrate for a four-hour stretch, completely happy to just cast and cast into the river. It’s one of my most treasured memories.

Photo credit: Tamara Lohan
Photo credit: Tamara Lohan