Gardens and grounds
Five acres of freedom finds its main focus in the two-acre garden and children’s play area, complete with fort, swings and trampoline. And try removing them from the 20-metre zip line, or removing mum and dad for that matter, who get a 70-metre one of their own.
Play garden games on the lawn, break out the barbecue gear and eat out in the sunshine, stay out there and make a night of it in the six-person, sheltered hot tub with pop-up speakers. Ice and a slice? Why not?
Bring the kids, bring the dogs, bring the whole hen coop, bring it on.
Living spaces
Spaces here might look formal, but this is a place that puts the chillaxed luxury at the heart of things. Relax amid restored ancient beams, solid-oak furnishings and crackling fires with space to be in the hub of the action or quieter spots where you can unwind with a book or a bit of Bluetooth.
Mellow out with a movie in the evenings in front of the 42” living-room TV. Dig out a DVD or bring your passwords for Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Keep your ‘Gram feed fed with the 60mbps Vodafone unlimited Wi-Fi. Stay toasty-warm with the ground-source heating system.
There’s a boot room for drying your wet togs and a drawing room for simply dipping out for a while. This is the manor house with all the formality and tradition you’d expect of an Elizabethan period home, yet one that’s been refurbished magnificently to bring you the best of Century 21.
Cooking and dining
Dine on the oak table under the ancient beams. Grab breakfast in the country kitchen. Or eat al-fresco under the stars from the gas barbecue with a dip in the hot tub for dessert. Wherever you eat here, you’ll feel special. Just like the moment you arrived and were met by a hamper full of goodies.
Put your feet up and be spoilt by the Michelin-starred magic of pro chef Martin Lovell or with tasty takeaways from Spice Fusion or China City. Or dive in yourself and create culinary masterpieces on the two electric ovens and four induction hobs, with treats from Checkett’s in Ombersley.
Eat out at The Crown and Sandys in Ombersley, for sea bream or beef Wellington washed down with local ales, or at The Holt Fleet on the banks of the Severn for piri-piri chicken or chargrilled meats. Or will it be The Hadley Bowling Green Inn for Butcombe beer-battered haddock or trout fishcakes?
Find great local restaurants such as Spice Fusion, paying homage to the authentic flavours of South Asia in dishes such as authentic zeera chicken and salmon tikka jalfrezi. Venture in to The Venture In for west-coast mackerel fillet or pan-fried fillet of beef. Or try all’Angelo for filetto Rossini or saltimbocca alla Romana. Buon appetito.
Bedrooms
Acton Manor will sleep up to 15 guests in six bedrooms. In five acres of silence, you’ll sleep like a fallen bough in nearby Worcester Woods Country Park.
The master bedroom is an en-suite sleeping two in a superking four-poster, while bedroom two also comes with a king-size four-poster bed. There’s a double four-poster in bedroom three and bedroom four sleeps three in a bunk bed and a single. Bedroom five offers a kingsize and bedroom six provides a king and double-sofa bed.
Children welcome
With room for 15 here in six bedrooms, it’ll feel like a home-from-home for kids among parents, grandparents, cousins and maybe a pal or two. Even a couple of four-legged pals. Of course, this is a pretty special home: an Elizabethan one with four-poster beds and five acres of land.
Not that kids will care much about period features. Not when they’ve got two acres of garden within those five acres for a little rough-and-tumble, or the children’s play area, with its fort, swings and trampoline. Not to mention the 20-metre zip line, or 70-metre version for bigger kids (and dads).
Stay outside over summer to eat al-fresco around the barbecue and wind up the evening in the sheltered, six-seater hot tub. Head inside to keep in touch with the world on the Vodafone unlimited broadband, bag a book from the bookcase, and bring your Netflix and Amazon passwords for the 42” lounge TV.
What people say
Wine, golf and clotted cream
Sample boutique English wine from Astley Vineyard. Pay and play at Ombersley Golf Club, ride Landrovers off-road at Eastnor and Solihull, chill on a spa day at The Elms Hotel. Play Wipeout at Aztec Adventure, meet the giraffes at West Midlands Safari Park, or splurge out on cookies and clotted cream at Churchfields Farmhouse Ice Cream Café.
