Nethergrove
Sleeps 14-18
Dorset
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Gardens and grounds
This is a place to dive into books in the dappled shade of ancient oaks. To wander the lawns among three-and-a-half acres of plum and apple trees. To wield a croquet mallet or table tennis paddle or indulge in rustic golf or pop-up badminton on the lower lawn. Or simply to sit and watch the ducks do their thing on the pond.
Eat out on the terrace table with the burgers sizzling on the coal barbie or the pizza oven ready to dish up your pepperoni or buffalo in the sunshine. When you’re done, a book, a bottle and a sun lounger might be the order of the day as the kids invade the play area, pummel the trampoline or bash a ball around.
Come evening time, retreat to the sunken seated area in the terrace (with cushioned luxury for 18) and be warmed next to the gas fire pit. Anyone for toasted marshmallows?
Living spaces
Nethergrove is a home straight out of Enid Blyton, a place where you affectionately recall lazy summer days out on the lawns or snug winter nights with the fires blazing and hot broth bubbling on the Aga. It’s romantic and charismatic with sweeping pastures and cosy spaces that will have you plotting a rapid return.
For family celebrations, reunions, hen events and anything involving a dog, Nethergrove provides the perfect stage. Split across the main house and a garden gallery, it’s a family home that provides sociable spaces for congregating and celebrating and slip-apart places for reflection and reading.
There are spots for having fun, too. A playroom for kids provides table football, a play tent, a rocking horse, 48” TV with Blu-Ray DVDs, and all manner of books and games. Get together around the 55” TV for bingeing box sets on Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney Plus.
Enjoy the garden and a glass of fizz from the gallery living space. Head back to the main house to burn some logs and flick through a few pages in the living room. Stream away on the 50Mb/s superfast Sky wifi. Keep the tunes coming on the DAB radios or play some of your own on the hall piano.
Cooking and dining
Foodie owners here have indulged, with kitchenware for any culinary project, two electric ovens, four induction hobs and a two-oven, two hot-plate Aga for soul-food soups, homely puddings and the perfect Christmas turkey. Cook from the heart in a kitchen with all the kit.
Seat 18 around the chunky table in the dining room, which sits at the heart of the house, or get out to the terrace table and get the pizza oven or barbie going. Stock up on Jurassic-Coast meat, salami, chorizo, Dorset cheeses and artisan jam with a short stroll to Duck’s Deli and Farm Shop.
Pop out to the King’s Arms for country-style pork terrine or seabass fillet washed down with cask ales and craft lagers. Tuck into the carvery at the Coach and Horses in Winterbourne for generous portions and all-you-can-eat veg, spuds and Yorkshires. Or give your meal a piratical feel at the quaint coastal Smuggler’s Inn.
For light bites, try The Old Schoolhouse Tearooms and Tea Garden in Abbotsbury and pick from light lunches, morning coffee and cream teas. Dare to indulge in the Dorset apple cake with clotted cream. For fine dining, the Seaside Boarding House in Burton Bradstock offers delicious, locally sourced fresh fish alongside an impressive wine list.
Bedrooms
Nethergrove sleeps 18 in nine bedrooms across the main house and garden gallery. Each is big and beautiful, with sash windows, contemporary en-suite or shared bathrooms and plush, toe-friendly carpets.
In the main house, Owl is a superking en-suite, while Duck is a superking that converts to twins through zip-and-link. Bee is a kingsize that shares a modern bathroom with Dragonfly, a kid-friendly twin bedded room.
Moorhen offers a queen-size bed and its own bathroom, while Butterfly is a kingsize that shares a bathroom with Pheasant, providing superking or twin options.
In the gallery house, Heron offers superking or twin flexibility and Kingfisher is a superking. The rooms share a plush bathroom.
Children welcome
Keeping the kids happy is integral to your role as parent on family holidays. Stuff to do when you get there is as important as the bag of wine gums in the car on the way down. But at Nethergrove, you don’t have to trek off to Durdle Door or Chesil Beach to grab bucketloads of fun. There’s plenty here on site.
Keep your kids active and away from their screens in the playroom with its table football, play tent, rocking horse and shelves chock-full of books and games. Or succumb to the screen with the Superfast Sky wifi, 48” games-room TV and Blu-Ray player or 55″ TV with Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney Plus.
Best get some fresh air on the case. Out among the three-and-a-half acres, there’s all manner of real stuff. Try a little rustic golf on the lower lawns, set up the badminton net or crack the croquet balls around. Elsewhere, there’s ping-pong and a piano to be played and a pizza oven for urgent refuelling.
Keep the vitamin D coming with a walk to the farm shop or a trip around the grounds (with or without dog) to find the pond. After log-lit games of Scrabble or cards in the living room, it’s off to bed, with kid-friendly twin beds in Dragonfly and family-flexible zip-and-links in three other rooms.
What people say
Pubs, paddleboards and fun parks
Potter to Portesham’s lovely pub. Heed the wild call of rugged Chesil Beach. Coasteer, paddleboard or rock-climb with Adventure 4 All. Drink to the day in The Crown Inn in Puncknowle. Children can find Nemo, plus sharks and seals, at Weymouth Sea Life Adventure Park or find rides built just for younger kids at Fantasy Island Fun Park.
