A quarter of an acre’s just enough for lounging around in the summer sun, playing garden games, entertaining the dog and hanging around in the swinging chairs. If you didn’t bag the log cabin, have a nosey around.
Eat out under the big skies with meat from Green Street butcher’s cooked on the coal barbie. When darkness drops, move the party outside to simmer in the six-person hot tub with the wisteria weeping off the pergola above.
At 29 feet long, the main living area’s big enough to house two TVs. That’s great if you want alternative viewing. For (alternative) alternative viewing, you’ve one in the log cabin as well. Get the woodburner fired up and find a flick on Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, all powered by Sky Wi-Fi.
For escape artists, the conservatory adjoining the kitchen/diner’s a great breakout area for games, books or music, or just for staring at the crops that wave in the wind in the adjoining field.
Under The Vines clean, modern, quirky spaces are the perfect base for ducking and diving in and out of Bath and the surrounding Cotswold. Yet they provide a perfect rural counterpoint to the buzz of the city, with places to party and places to slip apart. Relax and reconnect in a rare rural gem.
Knock yourself out in the beautiful, fully equipped kitchen and whip up some family favourites on the fan ovens and electric hobs in the house and cabin. Or don’t. Simply down tools and get the pros in. Call up Matt Rodrigues for anything from a one-off celebration to a fully catered break.
Put your feet up and order deliveries from Morrison’s, Sainsbury’s and Ocado, stock up on fresh meat from Green Street butcher’s and fine fizz and cheese from the Beckford Bottle Shop. And tuck in to takeaways from Caprino’s Pizza, Fortune Inn for Chinese, or Station Hill for fish and chips.
Eat around the dining table for 20, or out in the summer sunshine with steaks and sausages from the coal barbecue. Dump your dishes in the dishwashers when you’re done. Eat out at 16th-century The Crown on Aberdeen Angus and Hereford cross beef steak, or at Crosshouse for pan-roasted herb gnocchi or fresh Porthilly mussels.
Head to Walcot House for wholesome fare such as wild-mushroom tagliatelle or dry-aged beef fillet cooked by a brigade of ten chefs. Or head mob-handed down to Café Martini for big tables loaded with calamaretti sale and pepe, linguine dei faraglioni and tagliatelle con polpette.
You’ll need to keep the noise down after 11pm in the garden and cabin, but not so much in the house. When you’ve finished partying, there’s nothing to come between you and a deep snooze except the wind through the crops in the fields.
Pick from four bedrooms: three in the house and one in the cabin. Bedroom one offers two single bunk beds with an en-suite bathroom on the upper floor, while bedroom two is a kingsize with single bunk above and handy sink. Bedroom three provides a kingsize with single bunk above and separate bunk.
The log cabin sleeps eight, with two kingsize beds underneath two singles and a sofa bed in the living area.
Keeping hens and stags happy usually requires an iconic city with a bit of a buzz and, at Under The Vines, you’re just a ten-minute taxi ride from the beating heart of Bath, home to hot springs, Roman baths and countless cocktails. The other ingredient of a great time is a venue with big, sociable spaces and more-intimate areas for buddy breakouts.
A few toys don’t go amiss, either, and Under The Vines is glad to oblige, with two TVs serving up Netflix and Amazon Prime Video over the Sky broadband in the 29-foot lounge, and another in the log cabin. Get together and settle back on the squishy sofas for movie nights or matches.
Bring your fluffy towels and dressing gowns to slide out into the garden and stare at the stars as you simmer gently in the six-person hot tub. Stay out there and take it easy on the swinging chairs beneath the moonlight. Or call up that Uber and head into Bath for cultural fun during the day and epicurean delights at night.
See how the Italians did it at the Roman Baths, complete with CGI reconstructions. Then bathe in the same natural hot spring water at Thermae Bath Spa: enjoy luxury treatments and a spectacular rooftop pool with 360-degree views of the city. Stay out late for samples at the Bath Distillery Gin Bar or club it at Second Bridge or Komedia.
