South African billionaire Koos Bekker faces backlash over 2,700-acre estate in England

South African billionaire Koos Bekker is facing growing opposition from neighbors in rural Somerset, England, where his luxury hotel, The Newt, has expanded into an estate of more than 2,700 acres of farmland, pubs, shops and country houses.

Villagers have started a petition against the spraying of pesticides on the estate's farms. Residents downhill from the hotel blame its roads and building work for flash floods, and some farmers suspect that new boreholes have dried up parts of the River Brue, the river that runs past the estate. Others object to the sheer reach of the business, which now includes The George, a pub in Castle Cary, along with a delicatessen, a beauty salon and the café at the local railway station.

Bekker, 73, is the chairman of Naspers Ltd. and Prosus NV, the South African and Dutch technology investors that own a stake of more than 20% in China's Tencent Holdings Ltd. He holds the Somerset land through Emily Estate (UK) Ltd., the company that trades as The Newt.

Pesticides and water

The estate's farms are not certified organic. Gabriella Wilde, a British actor and model who lives nearby, said she was surprised to learn how the land was being farmed. "I was surprised and a little disappointed to learn that they are using such harmful chemicals in their farming operations," she said. "That is certainly not the image they project to their guests and local fans."

John Sykes, who lives next to the estate, said land beside his village had been farmed organically until The Newt bought it. "They are continuing to buy farmland, and I don't know when they will stop," he said.

Oliver Dowding, a cider maker whose farm borders the estate, is negotiating with The Newt through the Environment Agency, the English government's environmental regulator, over a stretch of the River Brue that runs through his land.

Flooding is the longest-running complaint. On May 9, 2023, heavy rain sent water through Hadspen, Pitcombe and Shepton Montague, the villages below the hotel. A draft investigation by Somerset Council counted 16 properties flooded inside, a figure it said may understate the damage. Residents told investigators that The Newt had replaced "boggy tracks and hillsides with less permeable surfaces, hardcore," which they believed had raised the risk of flooding. The council treated those accounts as anecdotal and recommended that flood studies commissioned by The Newt be reviewed by the authorities that manage flood risk. The estate has since dug ponds to hold back run-off.

The rebranding of the railway station in 2024 also drew anger. Its sign now reads "Castle Cary for The Newt." Hugh Thomas, a food writer from the nearby town of Frome, called the change "arrogant and brazen." Other residents have welcomed the money the estate has spent on the station and the jobs it has brought.

The Newt said in a statement that "fundamental to our philosophy is a love of gardens, respect for the land and a determination to share that passion with a broad audience." It said it employs agronomists, conservationists, wildlife specialists and other experts, keeps close ties with local organizations and has more than 650 staff "who are either from or live within the local area."

From one house to an estate

Bekker and his wife, Karen Roos, a former magazine editor who designs the couple's properties, bought Hadspen House, a 17th-century manor near the town of Bruton, in 2013. They opened it as The Newt in 2019, modeled on Babylonstoren, the farm hotel they built in South Africa's Cape winelands.

The estate now has formal gardens, cider orchards, a creamery and a reconstructed Roman villa with a museum. Rooms cost about £800 ($1,058) a night, and visitors who are not staying at the hotel pay £85 ($112) a year to enter the gardens. In June the estate opened Yarlington Lodge, a Georgian house in a nearby village that rents for exclusive use from £10,500 ($13,889) a night.

The project has absorbed hundreds of millions of pounds. Emily Estate had issued share capital of £703.4 million ($930 million) by October 2025, Companies House records show, and a Bekker family trust has sold about $500 million of Naspers and Prosus shares since 2023 to fund work at the couple's hotels in South Africa, Britain and Italy.

Bekker co-founded the pay-TV company M-Net and ran Naspers from 1997 to 2014. In 2001 the company paid about $32 million for 46.5% of Tencent, one of the most profitable venture investments on record. His fortune is estimated at about $3.2 billion.