In March 2025, the gates swung open to Kin House’s newest jewel: a Barlow & Barlow designed pool made for both casual cannonballs and fancy champagne toasts. Set in the Wiltshire countryside, Kin House has long been a gathering ground for weddings, retreats, birthday soirées and “just because” parties. Now, with its brand-new pool, the venue has upped the ante on summertime celebrations.
Fringing the storybook village of Kington Langley in North Wiltshire, Kin House is a lovingly restored Georgian manor set among walled gardens and private woodland. The venue blends everything you love about a hotel with the exclusivity of a private estate that was built for a social calendar. Cozy dinners for 20? Check. Cocktails for 200? Absolutely. In fact, our VR editor even wrote a full guide on hosting inside its chic Georgian walls. And now? The new pool sets the stage for cocktail pool parties in a chic countryside setting.
Photography: We Are The James's
How to Host Poolside Without Lifting a Finger
This venue comes chock-full of everything you need to host a gathering, the kind of space where the setting itself does half the work for you. We love a venue that doesn’t require endless styling or over-the-top décor to shine. Every element of the new pool has been carefully considered: jasmine trailing romantically above the two open-air showers, a poolside bar perfectly positioned so no guest ever has to wait long without a chilled spritz in hand and a stunning countryside setting.
You’ll find Pierre Frey Bosquet–clad loungers, lined with precision against the pool’s edge, each one topped with striped fringed umbrellas in hues of sage green, soft pinks and pops of burgundy. The loungers are perfectly angled for your party guests to get uninterrupted vista views of wildflower meadows and the rolling Wiltshire hills. A scene straight out of a film reel, designed for the host who’d rather pour the spritzes than sweat the decor details.
Think birthday bash, dinner party or welcome reception thata flows seamlessly from cocktails to wood-fired pizzas and BBQ feasts with a playlist that can carry the party from day into dusk. Countryside chic, but with a distinctly Kin House twist: a bygone-era photograph brought vividly to life.
Why We’re Extra Obsessed: A Shell Encrusted Pool House
The crown jewel of this new pool venue is what has our jaws on the floor. Enter, the shell-encrusted pool house, paying homage to Kin House’s Georgian heritage. Designed by Barlow & Barlow and decorated by Campion and Daughters, a mother–daughter duo reviving the historic craft of shell work installations, the pool house is wrapped in a soft pink render and studded with British shells: Welsh scallops, English cockles, and iridescent abalones. The exterior glimmers like a jewel box in the sun, while inside, Venetian Murano mirrors, bespoke Rosso marble sinks, and jade-green tiled bench seating carry Barlow & Barlow’s signature maximalist joy.
The shell house itself feels like a whimsical retreat within a retreat, it’s both a changing space and a design marvel. Step into its cool interior and you’re surrounded by hand-applied shell mosaics that shimmer like fish scales, catching the light and layering history with fantasy. Mel and Ella Campion have reimagined centuries-old shellwork into an immersive, architectural artwork. Part folly and part sanctuary that elevates the simple act of changing into a swimsuit into something utterly glamorous.
The Chicest Countryside Accessory of 2025
Shellwork has a long, whimsical lineage in English design and has always been a little bit extra (in the best way). Back in the 17th and 18th centuries, British country houses showed off with shell grottoes, those Baroque and Rococo follies dripping in scallops, cockles, and spirals that looked straight out of a mermaid’s sketchbook. They started as quirky undercroft décor, later spilling into gardens and lakeside retreats where shells gleamed in candlelight.
Now? Kin House’s new pool house is a modern heir to that tradition, reviving centuries-old craftsmanship with a playful, maximalist interior twist. Shellwork that is no longer hidden in grottoes, but basking poolside, cocktail in hand. And we can’t think of a better history lesson than that. The craft has resurfaced in the chicest spot possible: a new pool venue, cloaked in blush and studded with British shells. It’s playful and a little surreal in other words, exactly what you want as the backdrop to a countryside pool party.
Heritage design just got a pool party upgrade. Yep, Kin House managed to take one of Britain’s most eccentric architectural traditions and make it the chicest countryside accessory of 2025.
How-To Host: Golden-Hour Glamour with a Georgian Twist Pool Party
All of these shells, striped umbrellas and loungers have us thinking about the kind of party we would want to throw here.
We are thinking golden-hour glamour with a Georgian twist. Friends draped on Pierre Frey-clad loungers as the Wiltshire hills roll out beyond the water. Scallop-edged linens draped over cocktail tables to echo the shell house, string bistro lights hanging over the dining terrace and clusters of cream roses with citrus slices floating in large boozy punch bowls for a playful nod to English gardens.
Cue up a playlist that drifts from vintage Italian cinema soundtracks to jazzy classics with a modern DJ beat, and pass around oversized woven fans or silk scarves for guests to tie in their hair. With those touches, you’ll have yourself a poolside scene that feels both timeless and deliciously now.
Photography: We Are The James's
📍Venue: Kin House Wiltshire
📍Location: Langley, England
How to Get Here:
- Closest railway station: Chippenham
- 1 hr 10 mins from London Paddington
- 25 mins from Bristol Temple Meads
- 11 mins from Bath Spa
Ready to trade ballrooms for shell houses and wildflower views? Kin House was built for weddings, birthdays, and countryside celebrations that make hosting effortless. Start planning your party → [here]
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