It’s been quite a while now since glamping first emerged and how excited we all were by those stylish tents, with their little luxuries and proper beds. Now, though, could they even seem a bit passé? There is, in any case, a new niche staycation around that actually takes us back in time with something of a nostalgic twist. Could the ultimate pastoral escape be a shepherd’s hut?
Shepherds’ huts were used from around the 14th century by shepherds who wanted to be out in the fields during the lambing season and they would have been pretty basic. Of course, nowadays, they have had a considerable upgrade. In “Quercus” (it’s Latin for “oak”) where I spent a couple of nights, it lives up quite literally to its name – a little hand-crafted oaken work of art, its weatherboard shingles fading to a tasteful pearly grey, its iron wheels a glossy black. Finding it, though, was something of a challenge for our satnav. The road became a single track lane with the occasional passing place. The lane was so long, in fact, that I began to think we’d come the wrong way. And it seemed to be so little used that the pheasants stood and stared at our oncoming car.
But, no, we’re suddenly there. And after a couple of coded gates we’re into Drovers’ Hill and tossing our bags into a wheelbarrow assigned for the purpose. Our miniature home for the next two nights has a curved white weatherboard ceiling and natural oak windows with oaken shutters. There’s a small kitchen (with everything – from a corkscrew to a coffee-maker to a butler’s sink) opposite a dining table. The bed is a four-poster with lace curtains, a shelf, socket and light on each side and, underneath, a dazzling array of games. As you have your own field outside, it would make sense to take advantage of the rounders or pétanque. There’s a barbeque out there, too, and a fire pit for long summer evenings.
If, though, the weather isn’t quite so kind and evening is drawing in (as it was on our arrival in April), you can choose from chess, backgammon or a multitude of books. There is the Penguin collection of extracts brought out a few years ago – from Aesop to the Brothers Grimm, Gerard Manley Hopkins to Samuel Pepys and Walt Whitman to Karl Marx. Something, you might say, for everyone then as bedtime reading goes. Best of all, there’s a tiny wood burner. And, if it’s a cosy escape you’re after, that really is the cherry on the cake.
Quercus sits on top of Drovers’ Hill which in turn looks down on the glorious Stonor House, home of the Stonor family for over 850 years. Still home to the family, it occasionally opens its doors to tours of its 13th century chapel, the Gothic revival hall and an atmospheric 17th century library. In the meantime, we are, in effect, in their park and we wake up to deer trotting past the hut.
Despite that cosy kitchen, for that first evening, we’ve booked for dinner at the Golden Ball, a pub with a well-deserved foodie reputation. It has oodles of charm, too, and there’s a plaque outside that confirms this was the location of the very first episode of the very first series of Midsommer Murders – and they’re back on a regular basis around this area of the Chilterns where that kind of picture perfect England can be found in abundance, all brick and flint houses with roses round the doors and hung with wisteria and Virginia creeper. The Golden Ball is in the village of Lower Assendon and as the lanes get narrower and climb up the hills, the villages get smaller, turning into a cluster of farm buildings or tiny hamlets. Among them, the nearby village of Fawley was simply enchanting with its ancient church and fascinating graveyard complete with family mausoleums for the local gentry.
The Chilterns are perfect for walkers with springtime meadows full of cowslips and woodlands carpeted with bluebells. Squirrels dash up trees, while a herd of deer startles at our approach and bolts for the trees. Above, red kites hover, inspecting us quite closely – perhaps their nest is nearby. Woodpeckers rattle the trees and dozens of fat pheasants waddle across our path, unbothered by our approach.
In April when we visit, there is still a chill in the air in the early morning and the evening. However, from July to September, Drovers’ Hill opens its Reset Wild Spa. Aside from the sauna, this is very much an outdoors affair where you can enjoy a massage amid woodland calm and, if you’re brave enough, an ice bath – though this can be softened with a picnic and some fizz.
If you prefer something a little livelier, there are events at Stonor House from time to time – antique fairs, outdoor cinema or a spot of jousting perhaps. If, though, you’ve come for the rural idyll, sitting outside at the back of the hut is relaxation at its best. There are sensational views over the Chiltern hills and farmland, woodlands and downs. And at night, there are wondrous skies, full of stars, unspoilt by light pollution. Just, perhaps, as might have been watched by some lonely shepherd centuries ago…
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