Featherdown Farms were set up in Holland around eight years ago and the interiors of the tents are said to be based on a Dutch farmhouse in the early 1900s. Hollings Hill Farm is one of Featherdown’s 30 working farms that offer glamping sites all around the UK, and is a particularly good location for group events like hen weekends, as there are facilities to seat, feed and accommodate up to 36 people.
In terms of catering, there are wood-burning stoves with a small oven on the top so you can bake pizzas and cook basic things, and there’s even a bread oven if you’re so inclined. If you’re lucky enough to get some decent weather (and fancy cooking yourself), there’s a barbecue provided and a little honesty shop on site where you can get fresh bread, milk, cheese, butter, eggs and other groceries, as well as cider and beer. Alternatively, if you don’t fancy cooking, you can call up and order food from a neighbour who will create full, traditional meals like lasagne, curries and beef bourguignon and deliver them straight to your tent. (That’s if you need it after the home baked cake and welcome hamper that await you in your tent upon arrival...)
All bedding is provided and beds are already made up for you. Towels have to be ordered and shower facilities are a couple of minutes' walk away from the tent. There is a flushing toilet in each tent, however - so thankfully you don’t have to deal with middle of the night forays out into the fields.
Highlights in the surrounding include Eastnor Castle (where Davina McCall got married), the pretty market town of Ledbury and the ancient spa town of Malvern, while the Big Chill festival is held nearby each year (although not in 2012 due to the inevitable clash with the Olympics). Mostly, though, people come here to enjoy some of the fabulous walking on offer in the Malvern Hills followed by nights sitting around a camp fire or out on their verandahs under the stars.
What’s hot?
- There’s no electricity in the tents (so you’re not tempted to work) but guests can charge laptops and phones in the honesty shop nearby
- The oil lanterns and candles in the tents mean that at night you don’t have to fumble around in the dark
- Camp fires are very much allowed
- Tents have verandahs on the front so you can sit out al fresco whatever the weather
What’s not?
- You have to book for four nights if you’re going mid-week or three nights if you’re doing a weekend
- Hollings Hill is a working dairy farm, so there's always a chance of being woken at 5am by a tractor or noisy cow
- The remoteness of it - nothing is within walking distance because it's just off a B-road
Need to Know: Hollings Hill Farm
Number of rooms: 6 tents (sleeping 6 people each based on 5 adults and 1 child - double, bunk and cupboard bed)
Check-in/check-out times: 4pm and 10.30am
Room service: No
Swimming pool: No
Spa: Yes. There's a sauna and hot tub that guests can use for half a day as part of their stay.
Dogs welcome: No
Eating and drinking: Barbecued, ready-cooked meals can be delivered to your tent. Alternatively, you can make for one of the local pubs like The Oak at Staplow.
Near to? The nearest village is Cradley, but Bosbury and Staplow are also very close whilst Ledbury is 7 miles and Colwall 5 miles away
Getting there: Ledbury or Colwall stations are a taxi ride away. London Midland (Londonmidland.com) trains go from Hereford, Birmingham and London Paddington (either direct or with one change).
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