Go Niche

Think hotel rooms are all a bit samey? Not here. Not only are no two rooms alike at Winvian, a luxury resort in Connecticut, in the US, but no two walls are, either. Whereas we in Ireland are used to hotels so utilitarian that they can become, depending on the state of the economy, nursing homes or offices at the drop of a hat, accommodation at Winvian is utterly escapist.

The founders, who, surprisingly, are the same family of breadheads who set up Merrill Lynch, gave 15 architects free range to dream up whatever kind of cottages they liked, all of which are dotted around the property. The result is just as insane a mix as you’d expect, but all the more fun for that.

Among the more notable options on the 40-hectare estate are a tree house, a cave and a lighthouse in the woods, all offering the utmost luxury. There's a gingerbread house straight from Hansel and Gretel and a secret-society cottage designed like a masonic temple. There's a medieval cottage based on A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, a boulder house not unlike something a Flintstone might inhabit and a farm cottage whose grain silo is your sitting room.

Most bizarre of all is the helicopter suite, with a Sikorsky rescue chopper in the middle of your sitting room, decked out as a bar (left). Weird? Wonderful? You decide.

winvian.com