Gardens and grounds
Al-fresco space here is inviting and involving. Eat in the cobbled courtyard around the table and chairs with Trendall’s meat sizzling on the Weber barbecue.
Walk the woodlands, find the secret fairy garden, chill your beans in the shepherds’ huts devoted to art, yoga and reading. Head up to the cricket pitch to play rounders, table tennis, badminton and volleyball. Fly a kite. Picnic on the green. Get creative in the den-building area.
Living spaces
Spaces here are immaculately dressed in smart neutrals with the occasional pop of accent colour. They’re designed to induce relaxation. Lean into it: you deserve it. Duck out in cottage-based groups or come together around the smart TV for Netflix (bring your password) streamed over the Gigaclear fibre-optic broadband.
When your beans are fully chilled, use up your renewed energy in The Green Room (adults only), in the main house on the estate, over pool, snooker, darts, chess, bar skittles and all the board games you can handle. Head back for a coffee on the Nespresso. Don’t want to overdo it.
Cooking and dining
You won’t want for lovely kitchens or range cookers here: we’ve got three of everything. Dine apart or come together in the Gold Cup Rooms with space for 24. Butter the bread, pass the Prosecco, tuck into steaks and sausages from Trendall’s. Or head out to the Weber barbecue for a side order of vitamin D with your carnivorous protein-fest.
Shop at Waitrose, Ocado, Tesco, Trendall’s butchers, Hambleton Bakery or the Oundle farmers’ market. Get your fizz from Amp’s. Prefer a drop of white to pulling on the whites? Give Private Chef Marcel or Beetroot Catering a call for anything from a one-off celebration to a fully catered break.
Still feeling lazy? That’s your holiday prerogative. If so get onto Curry Passion Oundle for curry or pizza delivery or The Blue Marlin for fish and chips takeway. Going gastro? The Kings Arms in Polebrook has plenty of nooks and crannies for roasts, pan-fried pollock, chicken schnitzel or fried artichokes.
Try waterside dining at Tap and Kitchen on Oundle Wharf. Head out to The Chequered Skipper for decent pub grub. Enjoy teppanyaki table theatre to a jazz backdrop at Katana Peterborough. Or get a cross-continental fix at Dexter’s in Oundle on Irish mussels or seafood paella.
Bedrooms
Those sleep apps with their breeze-through-the-boughs FX and sleep stories can’t compete with the real thing. Sleep like a baby surrounded by meadows and woodland in eleven gorgeous bedrooms.
In Gold Cup Rooms, bedroom one is a cot-friendly kingsize with en-suite shower, while bedroom two provides two singles. Bedroom three is another twin and bedroom four a ground-floor kingsize.
Across the first floor is Goodwood Rooms with bedroom one being a double that will take a cot, while bedroom two offers twins and bedroom three is a king-size.
Lastly, St Leger Rooms offers ground floor king-bedded bedrooms one and three, both taking a cot, and bedroom two is a twin that’s also baby-friendly. Bedroom four is a dorm style first floor room and will take four in four small double beds plus a cot.
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Arrows, bears and trails
Practise yoga, paint or shoot arrows or clay birds on site. Fire for the well-manicured fairways at Oundle Golf Club. Paddleboard with Nene Extreme Adventures. Take our tip and get down to Huntingdon races. Meet cats, birds and bears at Hamerton Park Zoo, hang around in trees at Jungle Parc or tackle the trails at Fineshade Woods.
