Like your dining al-fresco? The quarter-acre grounds merge into fields that pan away towards Hawkstone, and there’s a table and chairs on the terrace for the whole group to take advantage of the views. Laze around on the lawns or lose an afternoon over croquet and badminton, then slide into the hot tub for lazy laughter.
Make yourself at home among the beams, sash windows and shutters of the high-ceilinged Georgian reception rooms. There’s a bohemian feel here amid a mix of contemporary and traditional furniture in inviting communal areas. Bring your friends, bring your family, bring your hens, and don’t forget the dogs.
Pick from two 50-inch TVs, one in each reception room: a movie on one, a match on the other, maybe? Don’t forget your passwords for Netflix and Amazon Prime Video for streaming over the fast Starlink Wi-Fi. Keep the kids amused with the toy kitchen and toys while you play ping-pong and darts or battle it out over board games.
If an electric range oven, electric hob, toaster and two dishwashers in a beautiful, beamed kitchen aren’t enough to get your culinary juices simmering, how about contracting out to Comyn Bruce? Enjoy a one-off, seven-course knees-up or a fully catered break topped off with Moccamaster coffee.
Shop for essentials at Wem Co-op, Tesco or Sainsbury’s or find great delis at The Pastry Box or Vermeulen’s Bakery. Get your meat from Battlefield 1403 and your wine from Tanner’s. Eat in the beamed dining room on the bench seating with garden views or out in the sunshine on the terrace table.
Take a five-minute drive along winding roads to The Dickin Arms in Loppington for an Asian sharer or seafood sharer. Head to The New Inn in Baschurch for soul food including beer-battered haddock or steak and ale pie. Or try the Michelin-Guided Haughmond for sticky pork belly followed by fillet of Cornish sole.
Book in advance for another Michelin masterclass at The Docket Restaurant, Whitchurch, offering a seven-course taster with wine pairings. Head to The Walrus in Shrewsbury for French dishes with an inventive twist, or La Dolce Vita for four- and six- course Italian tasting menus.
On a working arable farm in North Shropshire, there’s not even the moo of a cow to come between you and a great night’s sleep. Pick from seven slightly bohemian bedrooms sleeping up to 15 with Simba mattresses or Soak and Sleep toppers. Cots can be accommodated.
Bedroom one, The Berwick, provides a superking or twin, as does bedroom two, The Shingler, which also offers
an en-suite shower room. Bedrooms three and four, Pearl and Lozenge, are both kingsize, while bedrooms five and six, The Dorm and India, are singles. Bedroom seven, Zig-Zag, is a double with en-suite wet room.
Who needs a crowded pool in the stifling Spanish sun and half a yard of beach space? Let kids run free with their families, friends and four-legged friends in half an acre of classic English garden. And, with space at Burlton Grange for 15, you get to bring most of them with you.
Break out the badminton or master the croquet mallet on the sprawling lawn. Stay out there for supper around the 16-seat terrace dining table and, if you’re old enough, stay out under the stars in the hot tub. Indoors, the fun just keeps on coming, in a rambling English country classic.
Hide-and-seek’s always a winner with seven bedrooms and multiple reception rooms with their sashes, shutters and eclectic décor. Younger kids will love the playroom with toy kitchen and toys, and older kids will get competitive over table tennis, darts and board games.
Get everyone together for dinner on the bench seating, then stay that way with an evening of movies or matches on one of two 50-inch TVs. Stream your Netflix or Amazon Prime Video accounts over the fast Starlink broadband. Long day? They’ll sleep well in blissful bedrooms on Simba mattresses and top-rated toppers.
