Box Barn
Sleeps 14-21
Cotswolds
Pool, gardens and grounds
On a bend in the Severn, just a short walk from the roaring Bore, Box Barn’s gardens and grounds meld with the rolling fields of rural Gloucestershire. There’s space out here to party al-fresco or just be apart, celebrate the silence and soak up the atmosphere that inspired artists and sculptors.
The views run for ever. Take them in by the ornamental pond. Let your dog loose in the front garden. Sear your steaks on the gas barbie. Dive into the private outdoor heated pool. Wander the working farm. In the evening, sit on the terrace with wine and watch the stars shoot across the unsullied skies.
Living spaces
Big, bold and bursting with beams, Box Barn’s vast internal spaces seem cathedral-like. That’s a nod to the barn’s past as inspiration for a pair of artists and it remains awash with light and alive with inspiration.
Paintings still dot the walls and shelves, adding a visual element to the already soaring spirituality. That’s at its finest in the grand sitting room, with its vaulted ceilings supported by chunky oak beams that reach high into the roof space. Light the fire in front of the wide-planked floors and dial up the fun with Sky Sports or Netflix.
You’ll be painted nicely into the picture with a welcome hamper of homemade cake and prosecco. Demolish it after supper or around the TV with the dog plaintively licking his lips by the fire. Find him a doggy treat, then work off your calories on the table tennis, table football or darts in the games room.
Kids can raid the toys and books, seekers of silence can head for the study or the galleried landing with its endless views of open farmland, and everyone can get together to play cards or charades, chew the fat or stoke the fire in a place infused with the long-lost romantic charms of light and art.
Cooking and dining
You’ll feel right at home on the range cooker. You’ll also revel in the chance to chop as you chat in the vast open-plan spaces that bring people together to laugh and linger in each other’s company. Butter your bread and sip your wine between the beams around the huge dining table, with the light flooding in from the courtyard garden.
Alternatively, get out to the gas barbie, pour a prosecco in the sunshine and settle back on the table and chairs on the terrace. Stay out until twilight and sip sundowners as you wait for the celestial light show. If stargazing beats stir-frying any day of the week, call up our friends from South West Catering or Country Catering.
Raid the local delis, such as Severn and Wye Smokery or Forest Bakehouse in Longhope, for local delights like Severn Cider, Martell cheese or Silver Swan beef and lamb. Wash it down by raising a glass to English wine, with vintages from the renowned Three Choirs Vineyard.
Eat out on excellent fish from Severn and Wye Smokery, or feast on lashings of traditional English charm at The Lyon Inn in Westbury-on-Seven. Tuck in to local meat and fish at The Glasshouse in Longhope or get a warm welcome from Olly, the pub spaniel, at the Red Hart. Restaurants? Pick from a whole armada on Gloucester Quays.
Bedrooms
Sleeping up to 21 in the kind of comfort usually reserved for minor royalty, Box Barn comes with seven bedrooms, each more homely than the last. Oak beams, garden views and calming artworks abound.
Bedroom one is an en-suite superking double that can be separated into twins through the miracle of zip-and-link. Bedroom two is family-friendly with a superking that can be split, plus a single bed and bedroom three is a standard double. Down on the ground floor, bedroom four is where your kids squabble for the top bunk. Bedroom five sleeps up to four in a zip-and-link superking size, which can split into twins, along with two singles and bedroom six also has a superking size bed with the option of two singles instead. For the extra two guests in the main barn, the landing hosts a double sofa bed.
Bedroom seven can be found across the courtyard within the Annex, providing a little privacy for up to four. You’ll find a superking size double bed and a double sofa bed along with an ensuite bathroom, it’s own kitchenette, table and chairs and TV.
There’s nothing standard about the levels of comfort you can expect, or the sound of silence that floods in through the open windows across the rolling fields.
What people say
Caves, quays and golf
Kids can take a farm tour on site, rent bikes from Pedalbikeaway, ride the Dean Forest railway along the estuary, or go underground at Clearwell Caves. Grown-ups can bring the dog and walk their socks off through the forest and down by the river, shoot some golf at Rodway Hill, or live it up at Gloucester Quays.
