The prospect of residing in one’s very own manor house in Ebrington, one of the most beautifully scenic rural villages in the North Cotswolds of Gloucestershire – with all of your favourite people – conjures up an array of romantic images, flooding your mind with eager anticipation as you depict every perfect moment spent on the estate.
Wondering how you could spend your time at this unique holiday accommodation? Imagine mornings spent walking through open fields and paddocks and parklands with the resident foxes, badgers and deer, as the robin, wrens and blue tits dart through the blue (of course, sometimes grey) and back to the branches of ancient oaks.
Afternoons spent languidly sipping tea in the rose garden with trays of the finest bakes, as you fly through chapters of a decent book and echoes of shrills and shrieks from the kids’ games on the lawn can be heard, as they swing beneath the walnut trees.
Evenings spent around hearty open fireplaces, in hoggish armchairs that swallow you up with the wine, the music and conversation that gilds the cosy country night air.
Your mind’s itinerary has mapped together hours of everlasting moments and memories of idyllic countryside living before you have even arrived for your weekend getaway – or longer, if you are lucky – at one of the longest family run houses in the UK: Ebrington Hall, which has been occupied by the same family since 1456.
An element that cannot be created with one’s imagination is of course the heritage of the estate and its laudable sagacity that’s palpable from its books to its wooden beams. Its authenticity, its age-old charm, its own stories to share lives up to that merry montage you have in your mind of that country escape, and adds centuries of hallmarks set in its stone.
The heart of this unique home is the ever-blooming, beautifully nurtured rose garden – where the 70-year old tortoise, Heather, mooches around – a spring-fed swimming lake, a working fruit farm that produces some of the most ancient varieties of apples, plums, pears and walnuts. The gardens take you back to a time long, long ago whilst simultaneously affectionately embracing you in the very moment.
A luxurious, secluded romantic getaway
With so many of its original features having been lovingly restored and retained, Ebrington Hall embraces its older attributes whilst relishing in the luxury of modern appliances, central heating and lavish contemporary bathrooms.
This spacious holiday home rental has eight grand ensuite bedrooms that feed off from long corridors where a drawing room, a formal dining room, a chef’s kitchen, a cinema room and a stunning oak-panelled hallway occupy the living and entertaining spaces where open fireplaces and stocked bookshelves, study desks and drinks cabinets, centuries-old portraiture and family heirlooms hold the spaces together.
Facing north west, light floods the home throughout the hours of the day, where you’ll lap up the sun’s early morning rays in the gorgeous rose garden with a yoga mat and a warm lemon brew.
The drawing room is bathed in afternoon light for a lazy round of cards – whatever the weather, the fires are lit – before you head down to the swimming lake for a feasting from the boma and its Cotswold Stone boathouse on the banks.
Everyone’s on the water, paddling around or fishing for carp from the little rowing boat. The sun sets across the open fields, through the branches of the old sturdy oaks, planting its signature of golden dappled light over the wisteria of the patinaed facade, and onto the plump pillows of those gargantuan King beds – as a little goodnight gift of warmth from the day.
You’re in the Cotswolds, with your clan (maybe even including your dog, as Ebrington Hall is a pet friendly private property to rent), living a timeless existence under the command of the English countryside to ground you and your memories for generations to come.
Reviewed by Colleen Ogilvie
Edited by Dawn Kennedy