Heritage Review - Holiday Special
10 February 2012
It did not take long for Stately Homes to latch on to the holiday cottage fashion, nor for other heritage locations to follow suit. The result is that many acutely attractive houses, apartment, cottages and sometimes distinctly bizarre properties have been added to the sum total of availability.
Let’s start with the Landmark Trust, an independent Trust, that either buys or takes long leases, often on unusual properties, and sets them up in faultless taste as holiday homes. You wish bizarre? What about The Pineapple, at Dunmore, a wonderful, central place to spend a holiday that’s different, in a highly unusual building leased by the trust from the National Trust for Scotland (NTS)? Despite its size it sleeps only four, so plenty of room for reflection.
In Norfolk, the Houghton Estate offers two cottages. One of them is The Water House, sleeping 5, formerly housing the treadmill for a Palladian Water Tower, with a sheltered courtyard, now a dwelling of elegance and comfort. You will have HM The Queen as a neighbour, at Sandringham and the whole of the Breckland and Norfolk Broads to explore and enjoy.
At Tissington Hall in Derbyshire, Stately Holiday Cottages offer two 
charming one bedroomed stone cottages, each with a sunny terrace facing south. Nurse’s Cottage is down a narrow village street and will sleep two. Nearby is Hooper’s Barn, converted in 2010 into another 2 person two storey cottage. Both are ideal for romantics seeking solitude, you can bring the dog, complimentary guided tours of Tissington Hall are part of the deal, and the nearest shop is but a short stroll away in the village.
The National Trust excels itself, as ever, with a long list of heart-breakingly beautiful dwellings. At Port Quin in Cornwall you can stay in a ‘castle’, perched on a headland, which will sleep 2-3. Built on two levels with stunning sea views above cliffs, it is inadvisable for young children and creaky adults. Legend has it that the first guests who stayed there left the car parked outside with the handbrake off, with unspeakably expensive consequences. On stormy nights the small but sturdy castellated castle seems to rock with the waves some 60 feet beneath.
Combermere Abbey, near Whitchurch in Shropshire, the place where time marches on but the county follows a little later, has ten well-appointed and individually designed holiday homes where you can tuck yourself away and shut down the world. For Crossley, read a complete wing of the former stables, converted to enable a group or family of up to 10 to luxuriate in style. All bedrooms have en suite bathrooms and facilities of a high order predominate, with roll top baths, king side beds in some rooms and well thought through kitchen arrangements, making this one of the best holiday ‘cottages’ in the market.
Stone Lodge will comfortably sleep 4, but very often only 2 can be found, since it seems to have a distinct pull for bridal couples who have tied the knot at the Abbey and find the concept of this delightful little hideaway irresistible. As with every holiday property the décor and design cannot be faulted.
At Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire, saved from dereliction by the present Hervey-Bathurst family, two holiday cottages offer the chance to stay on, and feel part of, this family estate set amidst the outstanding surroundings of the nearby Malvern Hills. One is Golden Gates Lodge, well away from any public roads and suitable for four people. The two lodge gates sit companionable, separated only by handsome iron gates that cover the private drive leading up to British Camp.
The other is Peacock Villa on the edge of the Estate, with instant access to the Malvern Hills. Peacock nestles amongst the trees on the edge of extensive and mature woodlands. The quotes for visitor books tell their own tale and this is clearly a place to be relished by up to six people with every convenience to hand. I marvel that they manage to lever the passing residents out at the end of their holidays.
The Vivat trust also lets the properties it acquires. The Tower of Halibar in South Lanarkshire is a former 16th century defensive tower which has been skilfully converted into comfortable and often dramatic accommodation for seven. Should you have a hermit who travels with you, a 19th century cottage/bothy offers a comfortable double bedroom and a sitting room with wood stove.
By contrast Vivat have amongst their portfolio The Temple, a classical folly designed by James Wyatt in 1783. The Temple looks into Badger Dingle, designed by a pupil of Capability Brown, one William Emes. This is the sort of place where if you had a book to write, you might well hole up with only the beauty to distract you. If you wanted to take a little distraction with you the conversion is designed for two to live in style and comfort.
And so back to Norfolk where, at Somerleyton Hall, they have built , or are building over 100 seriously well-appointed eco-lodges in the woods around Fritton Lake. However, perhaps the honey of them all, should you wish to really impress your friends, is to hire Somerleyton Hall itself for Easter, Christmas or New Year, or for longer family holidays during the summer. You are effectively given the 5,000 acre estate and its numerous attractions and activities for the duration of your stay. The house sleeps 17 guests and any overflow can be accommodated elsewhere on the Estate.
An arresting collection of potential escape routes is available through Stately Holiday Cottages. The return of more traditional winters has meant that Scottish skiing is back in business and at Glencarnie, nestling up against the might Cairngorms is a newly built timber mountain lodge on the Southfork scale, but mercifully not style. You will need a 4x4, a strong constitution and a liking for baths rather than showers, power or otherwise. Possibly this is deliberate in so far as your chances of still being able to stand up for any length of time when you come off the hill are thought to be remote. Stalking is an item in these parts, as is world class salmon and sea trout fishing on the River Spey. If you would like more details please email for brochure.
One tends to think of holidays being spent in the countryside alone. Not at all, where better to indulge in an urban vacation than the Royal Crescent at Bath? The city speaks for itself, and if you don’t believe that refer to UNESCO who describe it as ‘one of the most beautiful in Europe’, and the terrace apartment at No. 5 has been given a powerful but tasteful uplift and now offers accommodation for up to 4. A plaque on your (temporary) door records the name of a celebrated former occupant, so there may be some reflected glory around as well.
The Lowther Estate in Cumbria, some 70,000 acres, is rife with virtually every type of manly sport that comes to mind. At Whale Corner, 8 miles north of Penrith there are two well set up former farm cottages with every modern convenience you can think of. It rains – a lot – in the Lakes and these cottages are equipped to deal with the problems that can result. As we go to press it seems that Lowther Castle, ancestral home of the Lonsdale’s, gutted may years ago, is about to be stabilised into a major attraction. That sort of thing is an on-going condition which once it has you in its grip is stopped by only one thing – lack of money.
So who knows, it may only be a matter of time before we are recording here that you can marry at Lowther Castle and spend your honeymoon night in the Yellow Earl’s Chamber?
Michael Tebbutt