From a country estate to seal-spotting & wild swimming
STEP into your own David Attenborough show on a dreamy family staycay.
From a gorgeous country estate on the England/Wales border, to seal-spotting and wild swimming while kipping in sleepy Harleston
Marrington Escapes, Shropshire
Lifestyle Editor Catherine Bennion-Pedley and her gang found a gorgeous country estate brimming with nature on the England/Wales border.
A grazing pony, strutting pheasants and hopping hares are just a few of our neighbours on the glorious, family-owned Marrington Estate.
And we’ve spied them all before we even embark on an hour’s walk down through the stunning Dingle Valley, where the babbling River Camlad is home to crayfish, otters and kingfishers.
We’re kipping in one of the estate’s biggest properties, Marrington Farmhouse, which sleeps 10 under cloud-like duvets – although the dining room is better-suited to eight – and which comes with a kitchen proper cooks will love.
A large hot tub, The Traitors board game complete with cloak, a verdant lawn and an apple orchard brimming with harvest make it an idyllic spot and, come evening, we toast marshmallows on the firepit and stargaze.
Our welcome hamper includes pistachio sablés from What A Pickle! in the county’s foodie capital Ludlow and a bottle of zingy Shropshire Lady white wine using Solaris grapes from Kerryvale Vineyard, 10 minutes’ drive away.
But with little ones in tow, we resist a vineyard tour and tasting, £25 per person (Kerryvalevineyard.co.uk), and instead take a trip across the border to Wales on board a steam train.
The nearby Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway trundles us through the rolling hills and, once we arrive in Llanfair, Poppy, seven, and Raffy, four, are thrilled when the friendly driver spots them looking on wide-eyed in awe and invites them into his cabin to pull the steam whistle.
Return tickets cost £27 per adult, £10 per child (Wllr.org.uk). We’re also close to several castles, from which we pick the striking 13th-century Powis Castle, a 20-minute drive away.
Its baroque terraces are a spectacular display of colour, and feasting on a cream tea, £7.50, among the blooms before a stroll through the woodlands is heavenly.
Adult tickets cost £18, over-fives are £9 (Nationaltrust.org.uk).
On our way back, we make a pitstop at The Nags Head Inn in Garthmyl for the Sunday roast of dreams, tucking into a delicate crab salad with watermelon and pineapple salsa, before tackling ginormous three-meat platters with all the trimmings in the lively dining space (Nagsheadgarthmyl.co.uk).
Two courses cost from £24.45, and we haven’t had a roast that good since!
Stays at Marrington Farmhouse, sleeping 10, cost from £30 per person, per night (Marringtonescapes.com).
Mendham Mill, Suffolk
Writer Ellie O’Mahoney and her family spotted seals and tried wild swimming while kipping in sleepy Harleston.
Paddling in canoes up the River Waveney, it feels like we are in the middle of a painting.
We’re staying at Mendham Mill Holiday Cottages on the Norfolk/Suffolk border, and canoes here are free to borrow, from which we spot newly hatched goslings, grazing cows and a hovering kestrel.
We’re bedding down in wheelchair-friendly North Meadow Cottage, which sleeps six, and our children, Elliot, 11, and Molly, nine, whoop for joy when they find the games room with table tennis and a pool table.
Later, we take a bracing swim in the river at the bottom of the garden, then warm up under the outdoor shower.
Norfolk is famous for its seal colonies, so we make the hour’s drive to one of the UK’s largest, Horsey Gap, to spot them (Horseygap.co.uk).
Close by is wooden marvel BeWILDerwood, where the kids burn off their energy exploring the treehouses, zip wires, mazes and slides.
Tickets cost from £20.95 for those over 92cm (Bewilderwood.co.uk).
Another day, Framlingham Castle, inspo for Ed Sheeran’s Castle On The Hill, proves the perfect spot for playing warring knights.
Entry costs from £8.10 (English-heritage.org.uk).
Later, we get a Michelin-recommended taste of old-school Suffolk at The Peacock Inn in Chelsworth, a 14th-century Grade-II-listed pub in the prettiest of villages.
Battered haddock with koji tartar sauce, £18, is standout, while the mousse, £11, made with 85% chocolate from local chocolatier Pump Street is to die for (Thepeacockchelsworth.com).
Stays at Mendham Mill Holiday Cottages, sleeping six, cost from £35 per person, per night (Premiercottages.co.uk).
OR GO REALLY WILD…
The Reserve, Cheshire
Wake up to giraffes as campmates at Chester Zoo, says Lifestyle Editor Catherine Bennion-Pedley.
Stuffing play balls with lucerne hay, my kids are thoroughly enjoying preparing teatime treats for giraffes with zookeeper Sophie, while learning about their surprisingly small poos and why their long tongues are black (to protect them from the sun, FYI).
The excitement continues when later we join an after-hours tour to catch a glimpse of nocturnal animals waking, including aardvarks, and learn about the incredible cancer-fighting superpower of naked mole rats.
By sleeping over, guests are helping the conservation efforts here and The Reserve’s reception, restaurant and bar ooze sophistication.
Welcome cocktails of sapling vodka, lime and honey – and juices for the kids – are quickly slurped, and the 51 lodges are swishly furnished, although our lakeside pad is without much of an actual lake view and comes with the buzz of traffic that leaves us feeling very much still in England when on our veranda.
Pricier lodges overlook the giraffe enclosure and, on our stroll to the plentiful breakfast, we spot the majestic creatures through gaps in the foliage.
As well as exclusive animal tours and fireside stories in the lounge, overnight guests also get to step into the zoo early, and it is undoubtedly one of the UK’s best – home to more than 500 species, including orangutans, elephants, leopards and lions.
All in all, our little ones think this is a roar-some mini-break.
Family stays for four at The Reserve cost from £306 B&B, including two-day zoo access (Chesterzoo.org).