Minutes from Guildford and just a short hop from the capital, The Spy’s House comes cloaked in countryside. The kids and the dog will love the three acres of lawn, complete with climbing frame, and everyone will love the instant access to 100 acres of walks, woods and wildlife.
Trek the trails, then come home to feed logs into the eight-seater, wood-fired Skargards hot tub. Stay out for the gas-powered barbecue and a seat on the terrace. Slide back the bi-folds, let the outside in and embrace the glorious outdoors.
Lovers of the Great Indoors will revel in the abundance of space here – spaces to party in and spaces to escape to. Pick from five reception rooms, each with a different feel and function. Spread out, kick back and get Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Sky on as the firelight flickers.
Check the weather with Alexa, stream and surf on the Sky broadband, plan a PlayStation party, or duck out with a good read from the full bookcase. Kids can raid the toys and books in the playroom while the grown-ups play with the kettlebells, exercise bike, barbells and dumbbells in the on-site gym.
Snuggle up for the evening in the main lounge with bottles of fizz around the fire, or slide out through the bi-folds from the lounge/diner to extend your living space outwards. The Spy’s House is a sociable or solitary as the mood takes.
Eat indoors or out here, around the country-kitchen dining table or out on the terrace on the gas barbecue with a view of the woodlands and the odd roaming deer. Cook on the Aga in winter or on the electric oven and hobs, or put your feet up and call up DineIndulge and bring the restaurant to you.
Tackle takeaways from Turtle Bay (Caribbean), Shah’s Secreto (Asian), Jeita (Lebanese), Ashuka (Indian), and Shardana (Italian) or The White Hart (English). Eat in or out at Rumwong (Thai) – if you’re in, be prepared to dine in a traditional khan tok room on cushions at low tables.
Walk to The Cricketers for traditional home-made lasagne or curry of the day. Try The March Hare close to Guildford Castle for Gressingham duck leg confit with blackberry sauce. Or enjoy an authentic bite and slurp of Italy at Olivo, home of pappardelle, pansotti, pescatrice – and prosecco.
For a classy night out, head to The Cosy Club for buttermilk fried chicken or burrata and warm harissa baked squash salad. The Ivy, also in the new Tunsgate Quarter, will serve you chargrilled halloumi or pan-fried sea bream, or tuck into Mediterranean and tapas at authentically Spanish La Casita.
The Spy’s House sleeps 14 in seven de-luxe bedrooms. Cloaked in three of its own acres and surrounded, Pooh-like, by a hundred-acre wood, it’ll wrap you in silence and sing you off the sleep.
Pick the master bedroom on the first floor for its superking bed, working fireplace and en-suite. Choose bedroom two for its kingsize bed, and bedroom three for another kingsize plus triple-aspect views. Bedroom four is a luxury double.
Bedroom five, with its bunk beds, is perfect for kids, while bedroom six and seven on the second floor offer a double, and single and sofa bed, respectively.
Add a layer of intrigue and mystery to your holiday destination and watch kids’ eyes light up. As the former residence of the Director of MI5, The Spy’s House will have them popping out on stalks. That’s after they’ve been blown away by the long gravel drive and the imposing flagged hallway.
Once they’ve discovered the bunk beds, it’s toy time. Out among the three acres, with its adjoining 100 acres off woodland trails, there’s plenty scope to wear them out before bedtime, including a trampoline, climbing frame, rugby posts and football goals. But if that’s not enough, might we suggest the playroom with its toys and books?
Stay out for bangers and burgers on the gas barbecue and make an evening of it loading the eight-seat Skargards wood-fired hot tub with logs. Back inside, older kids can keep their fitness up among the gym’s barbells and dumbbells, and there’s Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, powered by Sky broadband, and Sky for movies and matches.
