You could stay out from dawn to dusk here, among the eight acres. The fun comes fully-fenced here, so bring your four-legged friend and all the kids you can. They’ll love the play area and zip wire, but they’ll love the 16 x 6-metre heated outdoor pool more. Try to extract them long enough to bash a few balls around the all-weather tennis court.
Enjoy a kickabout with the footie nets. Or head to the rather lovely lawn out there that’s perfect for croquet. Cricket, rounders and trampoline fans won’t be disappointed, either. Refuel with a slice or six from the pizza oven. Indoors at Severals House is nicely enticing, but we’ll forgive you for not noticing.
Drop your bags and slide seamlessly into Severals House’s endlessly sociable spaces. The hub here is the kitchen, where you’ll keep the conversation simmering as you stew before you retire to the airy conservatory for drinks. Elsewhere, the inside of Severals is as toy-packed as the outside.
Where better to start than the games room? Pick from table tennis, darts, board games and the games console, then settle back in front of the 44” smart TV with full Sky package, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and Now TV. It’s all powered by superfast BT Infinity broadband. Told you we had toys.
There’s music to brighten your day through Bluetooth, and a full bookcase to browse and bag a book. Curl up in front of the logburner and escape to the land of literature. Or make it a music night gathered around the grand piano. Severals House is a big, beautiful bolthole blessed both with sociable spaces and quiet corners.
Kitchens don’t get much more spacious and sociable than this. From chopping and chatting with fellow guests around the dining table to piling it high with bread rolls from Caracoli and wine from The Naked Grape, life flows smoothly here. Slide out to the conservatory for drinks when you’re done.
Chefs among you will appreciate the Alpha oven and fan oven, along with the microwave, two fridges, standalone freezer, and two sinks. Pop the plates in the dishwasher after desserts and coffee. Prefer to put your feet up? Outsource the whole shebang to our chefs, as happy preparing a single hog roast as they are a fully catered break.
If the lure of the pool and the sports facilities are just too much, take your eating al-fresco. Fling some meat from Sole Butchers on the gas barbie, pop the cork off the Prosecco and serve up some tennis for dessert. Perk up your mealtimes with pub grub from The Bush Inn, The Woolpack or The Globe.
Head out to classy restaurants such as Bangkok Bistro for Thai treats, The Yew Tree in Alresford for duck confit or pheasant bourguignon, or The Tichborne Arms for a real fire, real ale and really good food including roast leg of pork with crackling or 6oz. Aberdeen-Angus beefburger.
Neighbours here are the ancient oaks and yews, the waterways of pretty, pastel-coloured Alresford, and the bats and owls that flit and hoot around the night. Sleep won’t be a problem.
The master bedroom is a kingsize with a connecting bathroom, while bedroom two offers two singles and a further pullout single. There’s a connecting bathroom and a door into bedroom three, sleeping two in a double. This room shares a bathroom with bedroom four, a superking with extra single bed.
Bedroom five provides two singles and an en-suite bathroom and bedroom six in the attic will accommodate eight children in futon beds with a shared bathroom with bedroom five.
There’s lots to love above Severals House for kids. Not least that, with 20 spots to fill, you can pack it full of mums, dads, siblings, cousins, dogs, grannies and grandads. So it’ll feel like a home-from-home. A home-from-home that comes with eight acres of fully fenced garden and more toys than Hamley’s.
The main attraction here for kids in summer will be the outdoor pool. A generous 16 metres by six, it’s heated to 28 degrees and big enough to get competitive over water polo, or just to chuck a beach ball around in. When the splashing’s subsided, it’s over to the courts for some all-weather tennis.
But that’s not all, folks. They can stay out in the sunshine for a trip around the croquet lawn, to kick a ball into the nets, or for the smack of leather on willow on the lawns. To ensure utter exhaustion, there’s even a play area and trampoline. Fuel the fun by feeding the pizza oven and barbie. Is there a zip wire? Of course there is.
Back inside, techy entertainment runs off superfast BT Wi-Fi and the 44” smart TV comes with Sky, Amazon, Now TV and Netflix. A games room offers ping-pong, darts, board games and a games console. Tired yet? Get them to raid the bookcase and curl up by the logburner. They’ll be snoozing in seconds.
