Where to go for... RURAL RETREATS
SPRING BREAKS ARE ALL ABOUT MUDDY WALKS, WILD BRITISH BEACHES AND CURLING UP BY THE FIRE
CABÜ BY THE SEA Kent
This grassy 1O-acre plot fronting the beach at St Mary’s Bay was once a rough-and-ready children’s summer camp. Now the scruffy huts have been replaced with 13 stylish larch-timbered cabins, sleeping up to six, and an outdoor heated pool and barbecue area. As well as being the south coast’s coolest glamping retreat, it doubles as a showroom for the cabins, which you can have made to order – but unfortunately the Scandi chic furniture is not included. Self-catering is no hardship when the main CABÜ house stocks farm-made pies, smoked salmon, Kentish cheese and freshly baked bread. Doze off to the sound of the waves, wake to bunnies frolicking and be sure to visit Dungeness to see late filmmaker Derek Jarman’s haunting garden. Cabins from £290 for two nights (minimum stay)
THE RETREAT WIDEMOUTH BAY Cornwall
Want to go rural but hankering after sea air, too? You don’t have to choose with The Beach House Company’s Retreat Widemouth Bay, three miles south of Bude in north Cornwall. This stylish, contemporary, four-bedroom house has a divine sandy beach on one side and fields of cows and hay bales on the other, both set against a backdrop of dramatic cliffs. Widemouth
Bay’s waves are wild enough to sustain a string of small surf schools
(the concierge can book lessons) and there’s a sleepy beachside café, while a fishmonger and deli rounds out the local amenities. You have more places to eat and drink in neighbouring Bude, but mostly you’ll be spending your days surfing – or trying to – and evenings barbecuing freshly caught mackerel. Sleeps up to eight, £900 for three nights (minimum stay)
BIBURY FARM BARNS Cotswolds
Just outside the pretty Cotswolds hamlet of Bibury is Bibury Farm, whose barns have been converted into five luxurious self-catering retreats. Ranging from the Grain Store (sleeps 1O) to the Bull Pen and Cart Shed (each sleeps six), they’ve been transformed by interior designer Pippa Paton in a soft palette of greens and greys, with logburning stoves and original beams. Each has a small walled garden for privacy, and everything is ultra high spec, from rich thread count bedding to Sonos sound systems. The concierge service can book everything from pub lunches to horse riding, and Daylesford farm shop is a 3O-minute drive – plus, you have medieval villages right on your doorstep. Barns from £1,050 for two nights (minimum stay)
WOOTTON PARK Warwickshire
Who doesn’t love a treehouse? In the heart of the Warwickshire countryside, 16th-century Wootton Park is set in 36O acres of rolling fields where alpacas, horses and deer roam. In the grounds, there are nine cosy wooden glamping pods, two of which are high in the treetops and fitted with shower rooms, tiny kitchens and decks. Most of them have private hot tubs and underfloor heating, so there’s no slumming it here. By day, have a go at wakeboarding (onsite) or horse riding, then head over to nearby Stratford-uponAvon for a culture fix. Alternatively, try a glass of locally brewed Mad Goose or Bunny Hop in the beautiful Bull’s Head pub in tiny Wootton Wawen, just down the road. Pods, sleeps two, from £95 a night