Cottage holiday gastro breaks
The owners of The Stables, a luxury 3-bedroom holiday cottage on the Kent/Sussex border near Tunbridge Wells, is putting together gastronomic tours of the High Weald.
Prior to arrival guests are sent detail of recommended restaurants and pubs, with locations and menus. Advance reservations are then made ensuring the best seats, with taxis booked as an optional area.
The service avoids “trial by error” in unfamiliar surroundings, where top restaurants are often fully booked, particularly at weekends.
To ensure visitors avoid piling on the pounds, weekly memberships, health and beauty treatments or pamper days are also available to guests at the adjacent Knowle Grange Health Spa.
The Stables holiday cottage in Frant, on the Kent/Sussex border near Tunbridge Wells, has teamed up with its neighbouring Knowle Grange Health Spa, to offer unique wellness breaks.
The health spa is offering guests at The Stables individual weekly memberships for £35 and £50 for couples. Guests can also book pamper days and individual health and beauty treatments, without joining.
The 4-star holiday cottage, which has 3 bedrooms and sleeps 6 adults, set in a rural location in the High Weald, an area of outstanding natural beauty, cost from £350 per week, fully inclusive of bed linen, towels, heating and welcome pack. A 10 per cent discount is available on two-week bookings.
The Stables, a recent conversation features all the modern conveniences of a self-catering holiday plus a cosy log burner for chilly evenings.
A ground floor twin bedroom, bathroom and wet room, make this an ideal vacation for those with mobility issues. For the more active there is a large range of local activities – cycling at the National Pinetarium at Bedgebury, sailing at Bewl Water, rock climbing and dry slope skiing at the Bowles Centre and horse riding in Ashdown Forest. There is also a choice of fishing lakes and golfing courses nearby.
The royal spa town of Tunbridge Wells, with its elegant “Pantiles” Georgian colonnaded shopping area, offers good bars and restaurants. Celebratory TV chef Richard Phillips offers fine French cuisines at Thackeray’s – the town’s oldest building, which C19th novelist wrote Vanity Fair.
The abundance of good walks in local ancient oak woodland, makes the pet-friendly Stables popular with families dog owners. It has its own secure garden and guests have use of a large paddock with children’s climbing frame. Guests can also use the owners’ private heated outdoor swimming pool from late April to early October, by prior arrangement.
The historic Cinque port of Rye, golden sandy dunes at Camber Sands, Hastings and Brighton are all with an hour’s drive, with a train journey to London taking a similar time.
Knowle Grange Health Spa: A privately owned health club with beautiful Victorian gardens, offers personal training in its fully equipped gym, yoga to reiki sessions, hairs dressing, tranquil treatment rooms, and a natural spring-fed pool, sauna and spa. The large natural spring fed outdoor pool, open year-round, is domed in winter. Open 7 days per week from 7am.
Royal Tunbridge Wells became a spa destination in Georgian times with its heyday as a tourist resort under Richard (Beau) Nash when the Pantiles and its chalybeate spring attracted visitors to take the iron-rich waters. Popularity waned with the advent of sea bathing, but the town still derives 30% of its income from the tourism.
For more information, visit barnstormersuk.net.
