Dine out on the terrace with the sweeping staircase down to the lawn and watch four acres of private garden and 500 acres of perfectly preened parkland open up before you. Get down there for croquet or a kickabout around the football nets.
Wander the 1.5-acre walled kitchen garden and plant nursery. Throw another Sepping’s steak or Sole Bay salmon on the barbecue and think about booking a private clay shoot in the grounds. Consider the merits of tweed.
What does a country house guest do at the end of a long day? Retire to the drawing room, of course. Set up a cosy, snug winter’s evening with the warmth from the woodburner or swing open the French doors in summer to let the cool breeze in. Celebrate being together with a singalong around the piano.
Pour yourself a brandy or whisky and wander down to the games room for snooker, table tennis, and darts. Stick around on the soft sofas to stream Netflix and Amazon Prime Video over superfast broadband on the 70” TV. Enjoy alternative viewing in the snug. Sneak off to bury your head in a book. Be as social or solitary as the mood takes.
Cook in an epic country kitchen on the range cooker and three ovens, or hang up the apron and call up Mackenzie David Events for artisan cuisine and unique in-house hospitality. Book a one-off celebration or fully catered break. Eat in the grand dining room with doors open to the terrace, or out under the summer skies.
Raid Sepping’s butchers and Sole Bay fishmongers for fodder for the barbecue, or get down to the farmers’ market in Beccles or Earsham Street Deli. Get your fizz from The Suffolk Cellar. Greens? Consider booking ahead for a veg and fruit from our own kitchen garden or visit to see what’s on offer. Pop down to our own tea room for some afternoon tea and cake.
Tantalise yourself with the modern-European tasting menu at The Fox and Goose in Fressingfield, including hoisin spiced duck rillettes and Earl Grey panna cotta. Book a hearty Sunday roast at the Queen’s Head in Bramfield, or maybe a cheeky brioche burger with Stilton. Love oysters? You’ll want The Anchor in Walberswick.
Salt-baked celeriac, lacto-fermented honey-poached pear, and honey-and-thyme-roasted Gressingham duck breast are all on the tasting menu at The Crown in Southwold. Consider good honest fish and chips (or lobster and chips) at The Sole Bay Fish Company. Or tuck into a ploughman’s at The Swan House in Beccles.
Here is deepest Suffolk, where the villages come with names like Maypole Green and Toft Monks, there’s no urban clamour to disturb your dreams. Sleep like a woodland log in nine outstanding bedrooms.
Bedroom one is a spacious affair overlooking open fields, with a superking bed and well-appointed en-suite, while bedroom two is a cosy double. Bedroom three provides two single beds with a bathroom at the end of the corridor, and bedrooms four and five have kingsize beds.
Bedroom six is a beautiful twin room overlooking the gardens that comes with a spacious bathroom with traditional clawfoot bath. Bedroom seven makes a stately statement with dramatic wood panelling and two single beds.
On the second floor, en-suite bedroom eight offers a kingsize. Bedroom nine is a monster and the perfect place for a children’s slumber party with two double beds and four singles in a bunk formation, giving them space to laugh, play and plot the next day’s adventure.
For larger groups, add on the Garden Wing to sleep four more guests in a double and twin with a shared bathroom.
