When planning your next trip, if you’re anything like us, you probably spend hours searching for a cool pad to nap; perusing your search engine of choice with queries like “design hotel” or “boutique hotel” - chances are, you have stayed at an Ian Schrager, slept on a Heavenly bed or parked it in an Easy Hotel at least once; just to say you have. Pick any city, and you can name at least 3 hotels that have free wireless access in the lobby, offer a great aperativo or the punchiest cocktail in the bar adjacent.

In the world of design hotels, much effort is spent on ensuring guests leave their stay wanting to champion the hotels brand to their peers - and so they should; birds of a feather right? So what does a ‘design hotel’ do to stand out now days? How about group 15 renown architects to each create an ultimate cottage, sparing no absurdity (helicopters, interior waterfalls) or expense ($1,450-a-night tabs), and you can pretty much count on an few stories ’round the watercooler.

Alongside Hotel Puerta América in Madrid and Hotel Fox in Copenhagen, the Winvian joins the individuality trend that emerged as design hotels—originally a rebellion against cookie-cutter chains— that have become cookie-cutter themselves. At Winvian, you’ll find John Martin’s Camping Cottage, complete with an outdoor fireplace and screen porch for watching the creatures of the forest from a protected distance - or Barry Svigal’s Greenhouse Cottage, which can be loaded with bushels of flowers for any occasion. Then there are the cottages which pretty much describe themselves, like the Library, Treehouse, Stone Cottage, Log Cabin, and Stable. Most individual of all is a 1968 Sikorsky HH37 Sea King Pelican helicopter refashioned into a bar and entertainment center for the Helicopter Cottage. There’s also a spa and a Ducasse-trained chef on site as well as 113 acres (bordering a 4,000-acre forest) to explore!.

Winvian
Tel: 860 567 9600