Dogs in three of the four pods for £8 a night, children free in the sleeps, a fenced meadow, a shallow beach, a cot in every pod, no play area because the field is the play area
Dogs and families
Dogs welcome in the Bell Tent, the Shepherd's Hut and the Cabin (not the Treehouse, for the ladder) at £8 a night with a bowl, a towel and a lead hook on the deck; children count in the sleeps and cost nothing, under-twos go in the travel cot we leave out, and the meadow is fenced from the lane with the river beach shallow at the paddling end. No play area, no club, no screen: the field, the river, the fires and the dark are the entertainment.
More than half of our guests bring a dog or a child or both, and the field is laid out for it: fenced from the lane, the pods far enough apart that a toddler at six in the morning is only your problem, a beach where the river is ankle deep, and a barn full of board games for the afternoon it rains.
Dogs: three of the four pods take them (the treehouse has a near-vertical ladder and a rope bridge, and a dog that has been up it once will not go down), £8 a night each with a bowl, a towel, a hook on the deck for the lead and a bag station by the barn. The meadow is fenced from the lane and the farm, so a dog can be off the lead in it, and the river beach is theirs as much as anyone's; the wood has badgers and the sheep next door have a farmer with opinions, so leads there. Dogs are not left alone in the pods, because a bell tent is not a kennel and the owls set them off.
Children: they count in the sleeps and cost nothing, under-twos sleep in the travel cot we leave out (every pod has one, and a high chair if you ask), and the Cabin and the Bell Tent are the family pods. The beach is shallow and shingly at the paddling end with a depth board that says what kind of day it is, the rope swing is for over-tens who can swim, and the meadow paths are a racetrack. The barn has the games, the books and the drying rack, which on a wet day is the busiest building on the site. There is no play area, no pool and no entertainment, and the children who come leave muddy, late and asking to come back.
What is included
- Dogs in the tent, the hut and the cabin, £8 a night
- A bowl, a towel and a lead hook at the pod
- A travel cot and a high chair in every pod, free
- The meadow fenced from the lane
- A shallow beach with a depth board
- The barn for the day it rains
What it costs
Dogs £8 a night each, two at most in a pod. Children free in the sleeps; a travel cot and a high chair free; the children's breakfast hamper £6. The site is the same price with a dog or a child as without, because the nightly rate is the nightly rate. The pods page has every rate by season and night; the availability page has every night of the season, taken or free, and quotes a stay.
Questions about dogs and families
How many dogs?
Two in a pod at most, and we ask about the breed and the barking only because the field is quiet and the owls are loud. Puppies under six months in the cabin only, for the sake of the canvas.
Is the site safe for a toddler?
As safe as a field with a river at the bottom can be made: fenced from the lane, the pods on decks with a step, the beach shallow at the near end and the fire pit in a steel bowl with a lid. A river is a river; we say so at the briefing and the depth board says it every day.
Pick the pod, pick the nights, and see every one of them priced.
The availability page shows every night of the season for every pod, taken or free, and quotes a stay with the price for each night. Then one form books it; Elin replies within two hours, 8am to 8pm, and a deposit of a night holds it.