The term ‘British whimsy’ often conjures up images of charming chintz, heirloom curios, and cultural treasures like Sherlock Holmes and Mary Poppins. However, this highly romanticized spin on British culture is more than just a nostalgic nod to the past; it’s a design aesthetic that has taken the hospitality industry by storm. New York City-based interior designer Adam Greco, who has worked on properties like London’s The Ned and Oslo’s Sommerro, has long felt that the hospitality space has been lacking in this regard. ‘As a foreigner, I remember walking into a grand hotel on London’s Regent’s Street and thinking it looked like a function room in Cincinnati inside,’ he says. ‘It was disappointing.’

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However, a wave of UK properties has recently started to embrace the kinds of cultural eccentricities that Greco saw as lacking in those hotels. This updated approach to the whimsical British aesthetic is characterized by the combination of vintage bric-a-brac with serious art collections and sumptuous fabrics. The Fort Road Hotel in Margate, the Three Horseshoes in Batcombe, and the Somerset pub-with-rooms are just a few examples of properties that have successfully captured this essence.

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A Wave of British Whimsy Hits the US

Lately, this design aesthetic has captured America’s attention, and found a home in upstate New York. Soho Farmhouse is due to open its outpost in Rhinebeck, New York, next year. The team behind the Cotswolds’ Estelle Manor is said to be searching for a property in a similar patch close to the Hudson Valley and the Catskills. These new builds are a bid to lure affluent New Yorkers who have outgrown the Hamptons, and provide something wilder, that feels genuinely rural rather than relocated.

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Former magazine editor turned hotelier Dorian Greenspan’s property, Maison Monna, is only 40 minutes from the city in Old Chatham, a charming hamlet he discovered when vacationing in the area with his partner. With Monna, he wanted to speak to this new breed of luxury traveler, someone who wants to feel ‘comfortable, cared-for, but not smothered.’

The style of the three-bedroom house is Greek Revival, though records show its bones date back to the Quakers. To populate it, Greenspan looked to his personal archive of antiques, yet by the time it all arrived, the effect was ‘a bit too monastic.’ The fix? ‘To add a little British whimsy.’ That translated into custom upholstery; fabrics sourced from textile sellers Merchant & Mills and Notting Hill’s Cloth Shop; DeVol sconces; and cheery ruffled skirting in the kitchen.

A Design Language that’s Developed Enough

At Six Bells Countryside Inn, minimalism is most certainly not the way. With Maison Monna, the style softens the property’s Shaker roots, but at the Six Bells in Hudson Valley’s Rosendale, British whimsy is interwoven with pure American nostalgia. Greco, who designed the three-story 1850s property for entrepreneur Audrey Gelman, explains the distinction is key: ‘It’s Audrey’s love of late 20th century catalogue Americana, the Vermont Country Store and Lillian Vernon,’ with its bold ginghams, Laura Ashley florals, and ruffled baskets, trussed up in a design vernacular that feels unmistakably English.

When guests step onto the property, Greco’s aim was to create a sense of ‘déjà vu, or something uncanny—like, have I been here before? Did I imagine this? Is this where my grandmother had her first kiss?’ Of the property’s 11 rooms, it is the Innkeeper’s Suite that is his favorite, with a built-in, hand-painted box bed, a hallmark of so many English country homes.

The Henson’s reading room, where guests are spoiled for choice, is a marked example of a softer interpretation. At this 16-room inn, living spaces are flooded with natural light, and touches of bouclé and natural woods create a serene, homey feel. The family portraits that hang in the hotel’s ‘living room’ aren’t purely decorative, either—they are hand-me-downs from co-owner Ely Franko’s grandparents, who once hung them in their home in Turkey.