South African billionaire Koos Bekker built a £1,000-a-night nature paradise in Somerset. Now it is under fire for using weedkiller

Koos Bekker has spent years and hundreds of millions of pounds building The Newt in Somerset into one of Britain's most talked-about luxury estates. The 3,000-acre property charges up to £1,000 per night, employs 40 gardening staff tending 12 distinct gardens and markets itself heavily on its connection to nature, farming and the land. That positioning is now drawing uncomfortable scrutiny.

The Newt is facing criticism after reports emerged that the estate uses weedkiller on its grounds, a practice that sits uneasily with the nature-forward identity the property has carefully cultivated since opening in 2019. The criticism has circulated publicly, with at least one social media post describing the discovery as deeply disappointing from a property that presents itself as an eco-paradise.

The estate's entire identity is built on the land. Hadspen House, the 17th-century limestone building at its center, is surrounded by orchards, woodland, kitchen gardens and cider apple trees. The Newt produces its own cyder, runs a working farm, offers honey tastings and built a structure called the Beezantium entirely around bees and their perspective on the world. Its restaurant sources directly from the estate. Its marketing language is saturated with the language of nature, sustainability and connection to the soil.

Bekker, who built his fortune as CEO of Naspers before stepping back as chairman of the company and its investment arm Prosus, has spoken publicly about wanting to reconnect with farming and the land after years in technology and media. He and his wife Karen Roos, a former editor of Elle Decoration South Africa, acquired the Somerset estate in 2013 and spent years converting it. The result was a property that became one of Britain's most awarded luxury retreats, named one of the World's Best Hotels in 2023.

To finance the project and its continued expansion, a family trust linked to Bekker sold $184 million in Naspers and Prosus shares in 2024 and another $150 million in 2025, a total of $334 million directed largely at building and growing the estate. The Newt also sponsored the RHS Chelsea Flower Show for four consecutive years from 2021 to 2025 before stepping back. Bekker has acknowledged the property is not yet profitable.

The tension at the heart of the criticism is straightforward. Guests paying £1,000 per night at a property built around the promise of unspoiled nature and careful stewardship of the land have a reasonable expectation that the grounds are managed without chemical herbicides. Weedkillers, particularly glyphosate-based products, have faced growing scrutiny across Europe over their effects on biodiversity, pollinators and soil health. Several local councils across the UK have restricted or banned their use entirely in response to public pressure.

The Newt has not responded publicly to the criticism at the time of this report. Bekker's net worth stands at approximately $2.9 billion, tied primarily to his Naspers and Prosus stakes. Alongside The Newt, he and Karen own Babylonstoren, the 2,600-acre wine estate outside Cape Town, a farm near Amsterdam and Vignamaggio, a villa with 1,000 acres in Tuscany currently under renovation for a 2027 opening.

The weedkiller controversy arrives at a moment when The Newt has been making a push to establish its own identity beyond Chelsea, having launched the Great Garden Show, a nine-day horticultural festival in May 2026 designed to position the estate as an educational counterpoint to the event it spent four years sponsoring.