Barbour Partners With Faraway Hotels in New England

For more than a century, Barbour has been shorthand for a certain kind of British country lifestyle: waxed jackets softened with age, wellingtons caked with mud, wool caps worn on autumn hunting excursions. And this fall, the 130-year-old heritage brand landed on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard as part of a special collaboration with Faraway Hotels.

The centerpiece of the partnership is the Barbour Borrowing Closet, from which guests can borrow the classic jackets and rubber boots before they venture outdoors for their New England shoulder-season excursion, including chilly morning bike rides, walks through town, scalloping in a harbor, and hikes along the beach. The closet is a nod to British country estates where gracious hosts kept a row of jackets ready for visiting friends. On these Massachusetts islands, where travelers often arrive with just a weekender bag for a two- or three-day visit, it made sense to offer a similar perk.

“Barbour has always been tied to the outdoors and the memories people make there,” says Paul Stephen, the company’s vice president of marketing for North America. “When you borrow a jacket and wear it on one of those adventures, the product becomes part of that moment.” The partnership made sense on another level: North East England, where the brand traces its origin, and the coastal region of Massachusetts share a similar climate, coastline, and maritime culture.

Faraway’s restaurants carry the collaboration further. On Martha’s Vineyard, The Newes from America (one of the oldest taverns in the United States) is serving a Barbour-inspired menu for the season, including elevated coastal fare interpreted with a nod toward British sensibilities like  smoked chicken croquettes and fisherman’s stew. Sister Ship, at Faraway Nantucket, offers its own playful examples, like beef wellington. And at both properties, cloth napkins made from Barbour’s signature tartan (cut from the same pattern found in the brand’s jacket linings) lend a subtle visual cue.

The “Layer Up & Stay Faraway” packages are available through December. Guests receive a Barbour welcome gift (often an accessory such as a scarf or hat), along with two nights’ accommodation, concierge-curated excursions, and cocktails. The itineraries lean into the particular pleasures of autumn in New England, like cranberry bog walks, distillery tours, birding, harbor roaming, and scalloping. The idea is to encourage the kind of slower, off-season travel that feels more authentic than the islands’ high-summer frenzy.

Experiential collaborations like this are becoming a meaningful part of Barbour’s North American presence. The company remains deeply tied to its heritage. Think fishing towns, country pursuits, and clothes made to last. But its world now encompasses more than retail. Hospitality offers a way to encounter Barbour as a lifestyle, rather than just a jacket or pair of boots.

“People want to meet brands in real environments,” Stephen says. “You can’t always communicate what we stand for inside a store.” And Faraway, with its maximalist interiors and unique sense of place, makes for a fitting partner. “We have so much potential to grow in North America,” Stephen says. “This is just the beginning.”

Nightly rates at Faraway Nantucket start at $184, and at Faraway Martha’s Vineyard at $241.  Both can be booked using the promo code, BARBOUR, at farawayhotels.com.