Take an acre, add another 999 and you have a natural playground of heathland, woodland, lawn, borders… and kitchen garden. Waste time over chess, Jenga and the maze. Swim in the heated pool, swat forehands on the all-weather tennis court, braise your burgers on the gas barbecue, and eat on the terraces in the south-coast sunshine.
Get the clan together and make a beeline for what you wish could be your ancestral home. Rejoice in Jacobean splendour close to the Jurassic coast. Sink back into a world of wood panels, ornate cornicing, gothic windows, and country views where things move at a pace you’ll love. In a world of luxury, the main one here is time.
Springham Manor is a period property with 21st-century trappings artfully melded into the package. Pick from table tennis and snooker, and sweat it out over the treadmill, bike, rower, and weights in the gym. And use the fast Wi-Fi to summon up Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, or catch movies and matches on Sky and BT.
Feel part of the upper crust and celebrate in style in the dining room, replete with portraits on the wall and chandelier hanging above. Cook on the four-oven Aga or hang up your apron and call up our in-house chefs (ask owner for details). Or rack up your lamb on the barbecue and eat in the sunshine on the patio in between sets of tennis.
Stock up the fridge-freezer with salad, tomatoes, beans, courgettes, leeks, carrots, and raspberries from the kitchen garden. Or get down to the Co-op, Kate’s Farm Shop, Tesco and Waitrose. Pick up fresh fish from Weyfish, caught in their own boats, and bangers and burgers from Brace of Butchers in Poundbury.
Pub it at The Black Dog at Broadmayne and the New Inn at West Knighton for hearty fare. Try The Sailor’s Return for a traditional thatched country pub full of characterful nooks and crannies to relax in. Go gastro over spinach dahl or pan-fried gnocchi at The Wise Man, or The Springhead for a lively pub surrounded by beautiful walks.
The White Horse is a traditional pub with a good carvery, while The Smuggler’s Inn on the coast does a cosy coffee and great beer-battered fish and chips. For a special occasion, head to The Pig on the Beach in Studland, Rick Stein Sandbanks, and Shell Bay Seafood Restaurant, in a great spot by the chain ferry, looking out over the water.
Ten bedrooms here sleep up to 18 and give you five en-suites. But beware: wrapped in Egyptian cotton with mattress toppers, nobody might get up in the morning. Many rooms will take a cot or a zedbed.
The Master Suite offers a four-poster kingsize bed with en-suite bathroom housing a huge bath and walk-in shower, while the Park Suite gives you an antique painted bed and en-suite with rolltop bath and walk-in shower. The Gallery Suite provides a kingsize bed with en-suite bathroom with a bath and shower over.
The Amber Suite is another kingsize with en-suite providing a bath with shower over, while the Dove Room has a kingsize and an adjacent bathroom. The Green Room offers a superking or twin beds with a basin, and shares a bathroom with Amber or Dove. The Orchard is a double with bathroom with bath and walk-in shower.
The French Room gives you a double four-poster and comes with en-suite bathroom with bath and shower over, while The Loft has a kingsize and a choice of adjacent bathrooms, one with rolltop bath and one with bath and shower over. And The Gable Room is a superking or twin with a similar choice of adjacent bathrooms.
It’s places like Springham Manor where memories are made and childhoods take shape. Drive here and the roads get progressively narrower and more exciting in an area described by Thomas Hardy as ‘narrow, tortuous, and miry’. Things are just as quaint and wondersome when you pull up at the door.
Just two miles from the fossil-rich Jurassic coast, this Grade I-listed Jacobean masterpiece offers plenty of scope for hide-and-seek, among myriad other charms. Homesickness? This is a family home, so it feels lived-in. And with ten bedrooms and space for 18, you can bring most of home with you.
There’s fun at every turn here. Bring your swimming cossie for the heated outdoor pool with pool house. Bring your rackets for the all-weather, all-year-round tennis court. Figure your way out of the maze. Play croquet on the lawn. And wander the 1000-acre estate to meet deer, Shetland cattle and Exmoor ponies.
Inside, get cosy by the burning logs in front of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Sky and BT. Get together for dinner around the Hogwart’s-style dining table. Play table tennis and pool. Eat meals from the Aga and taste the difference, then sleep wrapped in Egyptian cotton. Wake to hares and deer on the lawn and do it all again.
