When one door closes, another one usually blows wide open. And that’s exactly how Chef April Bloomfield ended up the current chef-in-residence at Mayflower Inn & Spa, Auberge Resorts Collection. After her beloved Manhattan gastropub The Breslin closed down last March per COVID protocol, the British-born chef found herself in a position she hadn’t been in for nearly 30 years. “I've been working solidly since I was 16, so of course I didn't really know what to do with myself. I was going stir crazy and feeling a bit restless,” she says. “So when I got the offer I was in the right place to start spreading my wings.”

Kemble approached the redesign to Mayflower’s historic site with “great trepidation, respect and a sense of enthusiasm.” More than a hotel, she says the Mayflower Inn & Spa feels like someone’s home, with a sense of gracious hosting, comfort and personality. The idea was a refresh, not a demolition.. She picked out the things that were worth preserving, that had aged well and brought a sense of authenticity to the site, including mahogany four-poster beds and lamps, refectory tables, chinoiserie chairs, a papier-mache chinoiserie coffee table and game tables. She mixed in Scandinavian and colonial American design influences with sisal carpets, Turkish rugs, hand-crafted ceramics, wicker, as well as textiles from Schumacher, Sister Parish, and Penny Morrison.

THE WELL is the brainchild of co-founders Rebecca Parekh, Kane Sarhan, and Sarrah Hallock, whose health club in New York City brings together all aspects of the wellness journey into a single space. There, doctors, practitioners, and health professionals (including yoga instructors and nutrition experts) treat guest ailments in a pioneering, integrated approach to maximize full-body wellbeing.

As the Chief Medical Officer of THE WELL at Mayflower Inn, renowned functional medicine doctor Frank Lipman, M.D, has been a pioneer of integrative and functional medicine for almost 40 years. He is also the best-selling author of How to Be Well and The New Rules of Aging Well. Under his guidance, trained health practitioners investigate different areas of guests’ lives during one-on-one coaching sessions, then formulate personalized, adjustable plans that outline attainable actions guests can take in order to achieve their wellness goals, be that improving nutrition, digestion, sleep, or reducing stress. In light of the launch of THE WELL at Mayflower Inn & Spa, we asked Lipman about the importance of functional medicine and ways in which you can increase well-being in your own life.

I’ve been studying Reiki for 26 years when my path to the healing art began in 1990 when my hands started talking to me. The message was clear: they wanted to be used as instruments for change. Now as a Reiki Master in the Traditional Usui System, my technique includes channeling healing energy to you through my hands, which activates the natural healing processes of your body to restore your physical and emotional well-being, shifting your perspective on life and allowing space for you embrace self-responsibility to operate from a place of love instead of fear.