The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
‘Space, roaring fires and nooks for chilling out’
From faded beauties and timeless treasures to high-tech haunts, we pick 20 party houses for a British winter escape
Anyone can throw a party in summer. All you need is a field, some bunting and lashings of rosé. But in winter? Who has the space to entertain 20 of their nearest and dearest? Who has the towels, the unrelenting joie de vivre at breakfast, for heaven’s sake, even as you open the fridge to find someone has polished off the last of the yogurt?
The answer: rent a house. It should be the biggest and most marvellous house you can find. Somewhere far from home and domestic duties, far from anywhere so you can raise the roof. Somewhere with lots of space and roaring fires, and nooks for post-party chilling or hiding. Perhaps an indoor pool, table tennis, a chef. Hell, a disco cellar with a karaoke machine!
Here are 20 fantasy houses to light your fire, whatever your budget and taste: some faded beauties, some glam and hi-tech, some timelessly grand. Invite all your favourite people, make your playlists, load up the double fridge-freezers, and ta-da! The greatest and most memorable house party with stories to bond you together for years.
DURSLADE FARMHOUSE, BRUTON, SOMERSET
An 18th-century Grade II listed farmhouse like no other, Durslade lies within the same estate as the Hauser & Wirth gallery in Bruton. Sculptures surround the house – you can see the curves of Paul McCarthy’s bronze creation from all of the rooms, framed by the beautiful mullioned windows – and artworks hang throughout the house; eat your dinner in a dining room painted by artist Guillermo Kuitca, or dance under the disco-like video and light installation by Pipilotti Rist in the living room. This riot of maximalism is a refreshing interior design choice. It’s got an eclectic, rich aesthetic: taxidermy jostles for attention next to colourful artworks, dizzying wallpaper and Persian-style rugs, while the palette in bedrooms spans the jewel-toned to Seventiesstyle avocado and dusty pink. It is unabashedly kitsch, and one for design aficionados who will appreciate the considered touches such as original Bakelite switches. All six bedrooms are different, though all follow the same vintage vein. Some have fireplaces and/or free-standing bathtubs. Although there’s a fully functional kitchen, try out Roth Bar & Grill, a farm-to-table restaurant on site. Don’t miss the exhibitions at Hauser & Wirth itself, and especially its wildflower-filled garden.
Three-night weekend stay from £3,000 (dursladefarmhouse.co.uk). Sleeps 12
Dance under the disco-like video and light installation in the living room
LANGLEY PARK, THE COTSWOLDS
As you head up the drive towards it, Langley Park looks like the serene honey-stone setting for a Jane Austen scene. Inside, it’s another story. With a fully equipped subterranean nightclub, this rather rock ’n’ roll reimagining of an 18th century Georgian mansion between Tetbury and Chippenham is just begging for party-ready guests to fill all that space.
It’s a house well designed for people to enjoy themselves, with multiple fire-lit drawing rooms, a grand formal dining room, a big breakfast room, plus a TV room for recovery veggingout. There’s also a traditional billiard room, screening room, and a gym. Down in the basement is an Aladdin’s cave for grown-ups: the cellar nightclub. Two rooms include a bar, decks for have-a-go DJs in your party and a dance floor for the rest of you.
Outside in 85 acres of grounds, discover all-weather tennis courts, a football pitch, and formal gardens, parkland and woodland to explore. The pool is only open in summer, but there’s an outdoor hot tub too for winter stargazing.
From £10,500 for a three-day weekend (luxurycotswoldrentals. co.uk). Sleeps: 20 adults (plus four children)
RAINBOW HOUSE, LINCOLNSHIRE
Cedar-cladding, red brick and floor-to-ceiling glass all combine in this wow-factor eco house in the village of South Thoresby that is built as a curve to make the most of the sun’s rays (there’s also biomass underfloor heating and a low energy ventilation system in place). Looking out at the Lincolnshire Wolds on a frosty morning from one of the first-floor bedroom balconies is magical. Interiors are slick and modern, with groovy coloured LED lights that create an instant entertaining vibe throughout, from the huge open plan kitchen and dining room to the hot tub on the terrace and double height atrium in the living room – all ideal spots for pre-dinner cocktails. Chefs, housekeepers and even post-party spa treatments can all be arranged. When you want to clear fuzzy heads the next day, a brisk walk along the sand at nearby Sutton on
RHAPSODY, SURREY
JSea, followed by a movie night in the cinema room or a few games of pool, is just the ticket.
Three night weekends from £5,450 (thewowhousecompany. com). Sleeps 22-24
This quirky six-bedroom Tudor house in the Surrey countryside offers treats around every corner, not least the sculptures dotted around the house and its 20-acre gardens. Aside from gorgeous bedrooms (bag the master suite with a terrace and a working fireplace), there’s a rustic beamed drawing room with two open fires, a glass-encased dining room and a cinema room with a cocktail corner.
Party highlights are the vinyl room full of records and a record player, and a music room with a piano, bongos, guitar and saxophone. While the outdoor pool isn’t open in winter, there’s a barbecue hut with a central fireplace, alongside blankets and cushions to snuggle up in, a yoga hut, a sunken hot tub and a glass reading hut with a log burner.
From £11,995 a week (uniquehomestays.com). Sleeps 12
WALLED GARDEN AT WILDERNESS RESERVE, SUFFOLK
Wilderness Reserve is a collection of self-catered houses on a 5,000-acre estate, which features Capability Brown-designed parkland and has at its centre the exclusive-use and handsome Sibton Park manor house. The Walled Garden house has been restored in what was the estate’s walled garden – the redesign even followed original planting schemes. The Victorian-inspired half-glass, half-brick house comes with eight bedrooms, roll top baths and a kitchen and dining area fit for gatherings of bacchanalian proportions. There’s a private sauna at the bottom of the garden; guests can also use the estate’s communal sunken pool and hot tub. There’s a separate lounge and games room, the latter with table tennis and table football. The style is glossy country living without the tweeness: cableknit rugs, bright Anthropologie parlour chairs, velvet cushions and auction-house finds. All but two of the comfy double bedrooms have roll top baths.
From £1,628 a night (wilderness reserve.com). Sleeps 16 (plus 12 more if you book Garden Cottage too)
KALEIDOSCOPE HOUSE, NORFOLK
With statement wallpaper, contrasting colours and eclectic, Oriental-style pieces, the aptly named Kaleidoscope House presents rural Norfolk in a whole new light. From the outside, this diminutive red-brick Georgian house in the quaint Norfolk village of Snettisham looks traditional and unassuming. But go through the yellow front door and you enter a psychedelic fantasy world, as daring as it is decadent, designed to dazzle and make you smile. Patterns clash everywhere – herringbone with rainforest foliage, blousy florals with graphic monochrome – but, incredibly, it all works.
Most sensational are the two living rooms: velvet sofas, chinoiserie, vivid botanical prints, working fireplaces and a curious, enamelled, freestanding bar. In the dining room, a lacquered table seats 22 (for any new friends you make at the local), walls emblazoned with a monochrome graphic print, enlivened by pops of fluoro pink; and there’s a sound system and iPod dock. The kitchen is lovely: big, homely and well-equipped.
The party trump card? The disco cellar: a soundproofed subterranean party level, hidden behind a red velvet curtain, with plenty of space for dancing, record decks (bring your own vinyl), a karaoke system loaded with enough power ballads and Eighties hits to keep the cheesiest of vocalists happy, plus a Hollywoodthemed dressing-up box. An adjoining cottage houses a snug lounge with a projector screen for watching films (bring your own DVDs) and three bedrooms, with six more upstairs in the main house. Oh, and a hot tub in the coach house. Perfect for a lively, memorable weekender.
From £3,689 a week (thebigdomain.com/large-houses/ kaleidoscope-house). Sleeps 20
THORPE MANOR, OXFORDSHIRE
Before opening their doors to guests in 2018, husband and wife owners Henry and Natasha Teare spent three years giving this Grade II listed Georgian manor house, set on a 200-acre estate near Banbury, a top-to-toe overhaul. And the result is a gloriously unstuffy pile, made for hunkering down. The 14 rooms are all named after horses (Henry’s stepfather Derek Ancil was a jockey and horse trainer who once won the Hennessy Gold Cup): Merryman has velvet mustard headboards and lemon and white stripe curtains while Knucklecracker comes with a Roman-style avocado mosaic-tiled tub in the bathroom. Butlers are on hand to serve morning lattes and early evening gin and tonics in the cosy, wood-panelled bar before a dining room supper (giltframed mirrors, glass chandeliers from ebay) whipped up by a local chef. The kitchen is the most heavenly lunch spot. There’s also a games room and projector screen cinema for winding down.
From £16,800 for a three-night weekend stay (thorpemanorhouse.co.uk).
Sleeps 28
DINHAM WEIR HOUSE, SHROPSHIRE
The perfect choice for a food-lover’s family gathering, Dinham Weir House sits in the shadow of medieval Ludlow Castle, a five-minute stroll from the centre of town. Once a Michelinstarred restaurant with rooms, Mr Underhill’s, it’s now a stylish, loungy six-bedroom holiday rental, filled with an eclectic mix of contemporary and vintage art and furniture.
So close to the edge of the River Teme that the sound of the water crashing past is a thrilling constant, the L-shaped house wraps around a large terraced garden with comfy outdoor sofas off the living room, right on the water’s edge – the perfect spot for after dinner hot chocolate. With its brilliantly-equipped professional kitchen, it’s a hoot to cook in, or, owner Jude can arrange for a local chef – we had the talented Warwick Kidd – come in and rustle up