West Barn
Sleeps 14-20
Somerset
Pool, gardens and grounds
The slick pool house opens the batting here. Head out for a splash and a swim in the Scandi-style six-metre octagonal indoor pool. Chillax in the bubbling, boiling Jacuzzi or relax in the sauna.
Take the table-tennis table out to the deck. Or just eat out there beneath the big skies and the occasional buzzard. Down on the ground, you’ve 300 square metres fenced off for the kids to chase butterflies and knit daisies. All around is the big blue yonder: head out there and take one of the many footpaths out into the luscious Somerset countryside.
In the adjacent field, children can while away time on the adventure playground.
Living spaces
Outside, this corner of Somerset is all The Land Where Time Stood Still. Cobbled streets pave your route and St Michael’s Church has watched eight centuries potter past. But there’s nothing ancient history about the inside of West Barn. It’s all magnificently restored and revived, as you will be by the time you leave.
The living space here was definitely built for gregarious groups like yours. The Farrow and Ball kitchen, dining area and living space are as open as open plan gets. After the After Eights, pile on to the L-shaped sofas and bag a Nespresso while you tickle the kindling, load up the logs, and prepare to wag chins a while.
If you’re looking for the big-screen experience, head to the cinema room, where 72 inches of wide-screen smart TV beam out at the U-shaped seating. Get cosy, pick a film, catch a match, or dip into the DVD collection.
West Barn is the essence of modern-day Somerset: gloriously traditional on the outside; stunningly modern on the inside. You can discover the West Country here, but you’ll also find a new you. One who remembers what matters in life: family, friends, fun, and a large dose of freedom.
Cooking and dining
That great chef who lives inside you? If they can’t perform here, they never will. This is a kitchen the size of Somerset itself. It’s a kitchen with real heart, built for living and laughing in convivial groups, with chefs and their customers mingling and mucking in, so the conversation stays as topped up as your wine glasses.
Of course, if you’d prefer to wiggle your toes by the fire rather than get your hands mucky on the range cooker, electric ovens, and gas hobs, then call up our chefs. They’ll do you proud, then deal with the dishwasher afterwards. When you’re done, put your pods in the Nespresso and your logs on the fire.
Eat around the huge kitchen dining table beneath the suspended lights with the views out over the fields, or get closer to nature with dinner out on the deck under the big skies or the glinting stars. Or how about a night in The Globe? Wash down your lamb shoulder or tempura tiger prawns with Good-Beer-Guide bevvies.
Restaurants? Try Duende in Wiveliscombe for fine dining, White Post Cafe in Langford Budville for exceptional coffee and a spot of lunch or, for something special, try Augustus. How about the full gastropub treatment at The Martlett, or maybe authentic Italian food at The Pumphouse?
Bedrooms
West Barn sleeps 14 in five delicious en-suite bedrooms. Scatter a few cushions, burrow down in crisp linen for the night, and be forgiven for never emerging. Enjoy deep dreams amid spotlights, throws, freestanding baths, and tasteful minimalism done to the max.
Bedroom one is a superking sleeping two, with en-suite offering freestanding bath and shower. Zip-and-link gives you family flexibility. Bedroom two provides a zip-and-link superking with two additional pull-out singles and an en-suite with shower.
Bedroom three also comes with superking zip-and-link bed and en-suite shower room, while en-suite bedroom four sleeps four in a zip-and-link superking and two pull-out singles. Bedroom five is another en-suite superking zip-and-link.
Suite dreams.
Children welcome
Baby Boomers grew up with quaint West-Country villages, coves, and beaches lodged in their memory banks. Children might be a different breed these days, but they’ll magically transform when offered lungfuls of fresh Somerset air, open spaces, and plenty of on-site entertainment.
Indoors, it doesn’t get much better than a cinema room. After a day on the beach or riding bikes over the Quantocks, finish them off in time for bed with some movie magic in front of the 72” smart TV. Dip into the DVD collection, flick through Freeview, or check into your Netflix account on the wifi.
Toys and books abound and there’s plenty scope for hide-and-seek. Outside, there’s 300 square metres of fenced grounds, including a lawn for letting off steam, a playground and a deck for dining. Follow the footpaths from the barn for country walks. Mix up the music with the Bluetooth speaker.
Bring your cossies and your inflatables for the Scandi-style indoor pool. An octagonal six-metres wide and heated to 30 degrees, it’s a place to splash away a few hours whatever the weather. A hot tub sits bubbling and boiling for older kids.
Little Bickley
Little Bickley is a quintessentially English cottage and a masterstroke of upcycled luxury nestled among Somerset’s finest greenery, inviting you to hunker down in cosy retreat from the world and is a great addition to West Barn for upto six extra guests.
Three en-suite bedrooms sleeping six come with both kings and superkings and sizzling showers. From the master, roll out of bed, robe up and head right out to the terrace for breakfast. Stay there to grab a hydrotherapy hit in the, six-person hot tub. Load up the logburner in the living room and get toasty. Pour a Nespresso, then summon up some sounds on Bluetooth or flick through Netflix to find a film. Children can while away hours in the surrounding green space and adventure playground.
There’s a rustic beauty at every turn: from the timber-clad walls, to the slate floor, to the farm artefacts on the lounge wall. You’ll leave those behind, but others, like an all-pervading sense of calm and escape, might follow you home.
What people say
Music, beer and bangers
Hop on a horse from Quantock Trekking. Burn your bangers on the barbies in the Quantock woods. Sail, row, kayak or windsurf at Wimbleball Lake, tour and taste at Sheppy’s Cider, or potter around Hestercombe Gardens. Wrap up the day at Milverton Music Club or just wrap your hands around a Good-Beer-Guide pint in The Globe
