A wonderful treat is to stay in a National Trust cottage or apartment where you can take advantage of the gardens out of hours, and we stayed in 1 Strode House next door to Barrington Court. In the kitchen you have a wonderful view of the fancy chimneys of Barrington Court in the soft mellow Ham stone.
Strode House itself sleeps 6 with a ground floor bedroom and toilet next door, so with parking just outside so it is suitable for partially disabled, as the sitting room is upstairs. One morning we hired the electric buggy to go around the Barrington Court gardens – quite a tight squeeze through the iron gates by the lily pond but it did fit through! Strode House is a wonderful building – a very grand red brick stable block which is now a restaurant on the ground floor and shop, with apartments over, one of which we rented. The sitting room is very spacious with an open fire and lovely views down the garden avenue and over Barrington Court entrance. It was a very warm apartment, with piping hot water. The upstairs bedrooms also have their own toilet facilities with one ensuite and one bathroom, so plenty of facilities. There are walks around the estate, one of which I did one lovely sunny morning out along what used to be the entrance to Barrington Court and then climbing up a deep fern cutting to the hill overlooking Barrington and back through the village.
When you stay at 1 Strode House you have free access during opening hours of Barrington Court, which is empty of furnishings but an interesting building of the 16th century.
Lots of other National Trust properties nearby such as Montacute, Tintinhull and Lytes Cary and you can reach some lovely countryside nearby such as South Cadbury hill fort which we visited, and the Church has a great view.
A wonderful treat to stay here – we felt very spoilt in such surroundings.
