, The Sunday Times
We are spoilt for choice when it comes to blowout holiday lets in the UK — for many, pools and hot tubs are a must-have, but some rentals come with far quirkier USPs (a private bowling alley? Why not). As a travel writer I’ve spent years visiting the very best, my favourites include a Herefordshire house with a miniature steam train in the garden and a West Yorkshire pad with a boutique spa in its former stables. Here are some of the UK’s most remarkable places to stay with friends, where fun is guaranteed.
1. The Hyde, near Tenbury Wells, Herefordshire
Take a trip on the mini steam train in the Netherwood Estate
RILANGFORD
A steam train in the garden
A big house with added puff, the Hyde is on the Netherwood Estate, close to the longest privately owned narrow-gauge steam railway in the country. Chug out from the miniature Victorian station and head past a castle folly, over a viaduct and through stations before changing direction on the turntable (£350 for two hours). Playing on the ultimate train set comes as an optional extra at the grade II* listed house and adjacent cottage, which have a total of ten en suite bedrooms. There are also twin lakes for wild swimming, kayaking and fishing.
Details Two nights’ self-catering for 20 from £2,850 (thehyde.info)
2. Waterwynch House, Tenby, Pembrokeshire
The 12-bedroom Waterwynch House has its own cinema room and stargazing lounge
ACT-STUDIOS
A music room with electronic drums and guitars
This seaside house has a music room with electronic drums, guitars and a microphone. Jam to impromptu gigs before sinking a few balls in the billiards room or settling in for a film in the cinema room. There’s also an arts and crafts den, plus a treatment room for in-house massages if you just want to relax. And with two kitchens and 12 bedrooms, there’s room for a crowd. After dark head to the stargazing lounge, with a glass roof for viewing the glittering skies over Pembrokeshire. Oh, and did we mention the private pebble beach?
Details Seven nights’ self-catering for 30 from £7,995 (coastalcottages.co.uk)
• 18 of the most beautiful places in England
3. Hill View Lodge, Kingussie, Highland
Hill View Lodge is ideals for sport fans
A nine-hole golf course
If you want to tee off without leaving the garden, this former sporting lodge in the Cairngorms National Park has a nine-hole golf course plus a tennis court, when you fancy swapping clubs for rackets. After play sink into the outdoor hot tub and relax. Inside, the lodge is all wood panelling, stone floors and crackling fires — the perfect Highland hideaway for 14, spread across seven bedrooms. There’s even a cosy bothy for two tucked away in the grounds, and plenty of hiking and biking trails further afield.
Details Three nights’ self-catering for 14 from £3,570 (cottagesandcastles.co.uk)
4. Goddards, Abinger Common, Surrey
Goddards, in the Surrey hills, has a rich architectural heritage
An indoor bowling alley
If a house designed by the architect Edwin Lutyens with gardens by Gertrude Jekyll isn’t a big enough selling point, Goddards has another ace up its sleeve — an indoor bowling alley. Hidden in the Surrey Hills a short drive from Dorking, this handsome house is reached by winding, tree-lined lanes. Inside there’s a huge inglenook fireplace in the cosy sitting room, a beamed dining room and eight bedrooms sleeping 12 (four in singles), where the style is more homely than grand. The Lutyens Trust still holds the keys to the library of this architecturally significant house.
Details Four nights’ self-catering for 12 from £2,400 (landmarktrust.org.uk)
• These are some of the UK’s best big houses for a group stay
5. Castle Trinity, Holywell Green, West Yorkshire
The heated indoor pool at Castle Trinity
DAVID CURRAN/UNIQUE HOMESTAYS
A boutique spa
The stable block of this 19th-century castellated house has been transformed into an inviting spa area, complete with a heated indoor pool, sauna, steam room and yoga space that also serves as a massage room (therapists can be booked). More prosaically there’s a gym and an outdoor hot tub. The feel is plush and contemporary, with suede sofas and a piano in the sitting room and velvet buttoned headboards and fur throws in some of the five double bedrooms. You’ll also find a lake for rowing and carp fishing, plus a deer park. If the mood takes you, you can even have a go at duck herding.
Details Seven nights’ self-catering for ten from £8,395 (uniquehomestays.com)
6. Castle Trematonia, Tamar Valley, Cornwall
Castle Trematonia is a Georgian manor that’s packed with history
UNIQUE HOMESTAYS
A covered skate ramp outside; everything for sale inside
If you’re a fan of the colourful, patterned interiors in this Georgian manor for 18 guests, you can buy them on the House of Hackney website: the property is owned by founders of the luxury interiors brand. Everywhere from the music room and library to the nine bedrooms is decked out in imaginative prints. In the nine acres of subtropical gardens you’ll find an outdoor pool, with its pool house overlooked by a crenellated tower where chickens roam. There’s also a covered skate ramp and table tennis in the gatehouse, where Sir Francis Drake supposedly hid stolen jewels.
Details Seven nights’ self-catering for 18 from £9,995 (uniquehomestays.com)
• Revealed: 100 Best Places to Stay in the UK
7. Marlborough Manor, Alresford, Essex
Marlborough Manor has everything you’ll need for a luxurious group stay
A magical adventure park on the same estate
Not many big houses can claim to be part of an enchanted lost kingdom. This one is on the same estate as the Wyvernwood adventure park, with discounted entry for house guests and rooms named after characters and places in the accompanying book. Of the many houses I’ve stayed in, this is the one that my family and friends have rebooked, partly because it’s so convenient from London and partly because the imposing manor is so well equipped for groups. The spacious kitchen has all the goodies to rustle up a special dinner, the ten bedrooms all have their own bathroom and there’s a series of elegant living rooms, with plenty of space in which to relax together. To that add a heated pool and tennis court.
Details Two nights’ self-catering for 20 from £3,950 (kateandtoms.com)
