Tried and Tested 25 Park Lane
Welcome to the latest edition of our Tried and Tested blog series, highly commended at the East of...
by Morris / Tried and Tested
Welcome to the latest edition of the Best of Suffolk ‘Tried and Tested’ blog series, featuring Yew Tree Farm Barn and Stable – a stunning pet friendly barn sleeping six plus two, and a stable conversion sleeping three that combine to create ideal holiday accommodation for large or extended families or groups. All this, and set in stunning Suffolk countryside!
In this edition, Yew Tree Farm Barn and Yew Tree Stable were home to the Peek family. Harry Peek is the Guest experience Manager at Best of Suffolk, and knows a thing or two about making thoroughly enjoyable holidays for our guests! Harry’s family are based all over East Anglia, and this Tried and Tested was an opportunity to get together as a group and explore all that this beautiful area of Suffolk has to offer.
They’re an active bunch, so the Peek’s stay combined walks with dogs, Framlingham Parkrun and castle, a trip to Southwold for fish and chips, as well as a pottery painting café in Rendlesham. All this, as well as a detailed review of the fabulous accommodation at Yew Tree Farm Barn and Yew Tree Farm Stable.
The flexibility of Yew Tree Farm, as well as the rural tranquility, and games room are it’s biggest selling points. The beautiful converted barn comfortably accommodates six plus two, over three en-suite bedrooms and a further mezzanine bedroom. Yew Tree Farm Stable is a separate accommodation which can sleep up to three further guests. Harry’s Auntie and Uncle took Yew Tree Farm Stable, allowing them to join in the fun in the fabulous games room, and round the dinner table, but gave them the comfort of their own space when they were ready to retire of an evening.
Ideally located in rural Suffolk, Yew Tree Farm provides the ideal way to ‘get away from it all’ and enjoy being together as a group, yet only a short drive from places of interest and restaurants.
We are Suffolk and proud. Our glorious county is right on our doorstep, primed and ready to be explored. That’s why, in the Tried and Tested blog series, we enjoy getting out and about, sharing our top tips, favourite eateries, local attractions, walks and other truly local top tips with our guests.
We put our stylish places to stay to the test with our own family and friends. The photos are candid, often taken on our phones and without any professional photographic equipment or staging. What you see, is what you get, and we have such confidence in our properties that we share all aspects of our stays with you. After all, there’s nothing better than a personal recommendation when it comes to something as important as a holiday!
Let’s see how the Peek family got on when they ‘Tried and Tested’ Yew Tree Farm Barn and Yew Tree Farm Stable;
Yew Tree Farm Barn is a contemporary conversion of a historic Suffolk barn, set deep in the Suffolk countryside in the quiet and rural village of Worlingworth. The barn conversion takes the best of the old – the historic beams and plasterwork – and the new – an exciting layout, contemporary fittings and under floor heating – to create a fabulous, high quality retreat to relax in or use as a base to explore Suffolk. A fabulous new addition is the external games room complete with full size pool table!
VIEW & BOOK YEW TREE FARM BARN
Yew Tree Farm Stable is a spacious, single-storey conversion which is just over the courtyard from the barn. It’s ideal for a relaxing break or holiday exploring Suffolk’s coast and countryside. This pet-friendly holiday accommodation has been cleverly designed with a ramp to the front door, which opens into a kitchen/breakfast room, with the bedroom and bathroom to one side and living room to the other. The raised deck is an added bonus and a great spot to sit with a book or simply enjoy the abundant birdlife.
VIEW & BOOK YEW TREE FARM STABLE
If you’re looking for flexible accommodation for the entire family or group of friends, you can combine both gorgeous properties above and hire the entire place, accommodating up to 10 guests.
VIEW & BOOK YEW TREE FARM BARN AND STABLE
This luxurious self-catering Suffolk country holiday accommodation is deep in the Suffolk countryside in the quiet rural village of Worlingworth, which is situated between the market towns of Framlingham, Eye and Debenham all approximately 7 miles away.
Yew Tree Farm also lies only 4 miles from Earl Soham renowned for its micro brewery at The Victoria, in Stradbroke the Ivy House serves superb local beers and at Occold there is the Beaconsfield Arms, all also serve good food.
Slightly further afield is the market town of Framlingham with a restaurant, Watson and Walpole and another gastro pub, The Station.
With my family already exploring, I was one of the last to arrive at Yew Tree Farm. As with any rural location, the concerns of winding roads and getting lost with no signal needn’t have been exercised. Directions straight to the door from the handy listing on Google Maps paired with the easy to follow Best of Suffolk arrival details made it a simple drive. With family travelling from all over East Anglia and beyond, we came with cars a plenty. Fortunately, there was ample parking at both Yew Tree Farm Barn and Stable with a large gravel driveway.
Myself and my immediate family were staying in Yew Tree Farm Barn for the weekend, with my Auntie and Uncle enjoying The Stable just next door. This gave them the flexibility to join us for meals and games whilst still enjoying their own space. Fully equipped with its own kitchen, living room, bedroom and bathroom, The Stable offers the perfect addition to The Barn to accommodate extended family for any special occasion or get together.
Both properties provided a generous welcome pack consisting of wine, local Adnams beer and biscuits, some of which was enjoyed by the family before I had even arrived!
From the moment I walked through the doors to Yew Tree Farm Barn, I was immediately drawn to the large open plan living space combining a lounge area with TV, kitchen/diner and cosy snug space tucked away on the upper mezzanine. The restoration is the perfect combination of original character with stunning exposed wooden beams whilst still offering a contemporary and practical space. Yew Tree Farm Barn is framed with a quirky chandelier hand crafted by the property owner with large dining table and double doors opening to a sheltered courtyard.
I was lucky enough to be staying in the master bedroom, but with all bedrooms offering generous space and en-suite bathrooms there was no short straw to be drawn! The stunning master bedroom overlooked the open plan living space with a small Juliet balcony and took full advantage of the barns height with gorgeous sloping ceilings and high level windows to welcome the winter sunrise in the morning.
One thing that really shines through across both the Barn and Stable is the attention to detail and care from owners David and Kate. Whether it be the hot water bottles on the bottom of the beds, umbrellas by the door for those rare rainy Suffolk days or trivia quiz games to fill those 5 minutes of downtime, every detail has been considered. It was the homely nature that made Yew Tree Farm Barn a real ‘home from home’ and meant we could relax right from the beginning.
After busy weeks we all arrived hungry, ready for some dinner. We were keen to fully explore Yew Tree Farm Barn and The Stable so opted against eating out in favour of thoroughly road testing the barn’s large kitchen. With Spaghetti Bolognese on the menu, mum set about cooking for eight and couldn’t believe how well equipped the kitchen was. It seemed like everything had been thought of and in generous quantities, to the cover for that knife in the dishwasher or the forks we used for cake.
The large dining table provided ample room for us to gather round and enjoy a delicious meal.
Yew Tree Farm Barn’s games room was the perfect evening entertainment. With a pool table, darts and a host of garden games there was something for the whole family to enjoy. The walls were also lined with the largest collection of DVD’s I had ever seen, we loved looking through the titles to choose a film to enjoy.
Yew Tree Farm Barn itself was equally well equipped with board games, playing cards and a host of CD’s. The mezzanine was a fantastic space for a game of cards while listening to some music from the Alexa smart speaker downstairs.
Saturday morning means one thing to us, and one thing only, Parkrun! The free weekly timed 5k event takes place across the globe and a weekend away gave us the opportunity to make the short drive to Framlingham and enjoy a different local event. This friendly, well organised event gave us a warm welcome even in the coldest of temperatures with plenty of people to cheer us round the course.
It was also a great chance to meet some extended family near by that came along to join us for the run.
As my Mum always says, if you burn calories it means you can replace them and for this we again looked to the well equipped kitchen at Yew Tree Farm Barn for a bacon and sausage bap brunch!
Both Yew Tree Farm Barn and Yew Tree Farm Stable welcome dogs and whilst we didn’t bring any of our own, the gorgeous border-collies Dylan and Gus were more than happy to accompany us on a rural walk of the surrounding area around Worlingworth.
The handy Welcome File, asides from all the essential information on the property, also recommended some popular local walks. This also included a beautiful hand drawn map of the footpaths around the barn and helped us pre-plan our route. The wildlife spotting guide would also prove popular with any younger guests.
With some of the party otherwise occupied enjoying some local competitive sport, the ladies headed to the nearby Jars of Clay Ceramics Painting Studio and Café to try their hand at pottery painting. Located in Rendlesham, just outside of Woodbridge, the charming studio provides the perfect environment to spend time with family and friends.
The walls were lined with a host of different ceramics, all individually priced. With Christmas just around the corner festive plates were the popular choice! Each table was set with everything you might need including paints, brushes and sponges and the team were on hand to help with any questions or guidance needed. Once finished, the plates were left to be fired in the studio kiln ready for collection in a couple of days.
As not just a studio, a café too, the cakes looked too good to resist and paired with a cup of tea made the perfect accompaniment to a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon of art. The Café offers Caffe Milano coffee from beans hand roasted in Suffolk as well as a selection of teas, Italian hot chocolate, cold drinks and scrumptious cakes all sourced Fairtrade wherever possible. This is a popular little spot so pre-booking online in advance of your visit is recommended.
Saturday evening saw us heading out for some food at local pub The Swan at Hoxne. Offering a warm friendly atmosphere and delicious menu of fresh ingredients from local farmers markets and suppliers, there was something for us all to enjoy.
On Sunday morning we made the 45 minute or so drive to enjoy some winter sun at nearby Southwold. With beautiful sandy beaches and colourful beach huts, it was the perfect location for a morning walk.
Southwold also offers a popular High Street with a great array of shops ranging from small local independents to major brands such as Joules and Jack Wills. These were great to warm up from the fresh breeze!
A visit to the seaside is never complete without Fish and Chips and the High Street offered plenty of choice, even some with inside seating.
On route back to Worlingworth, we made a small detour to see the famous ‘Castle on the Hill’ in Framlingham. Around 10 minutes away from Yew Tree Farm, this was a great base for a short walk with the wider town of Framlingham also offering a host of shops and cafes to explore.
Before heading home, we returned to a beautiful dusting of snow across the farm!
From studying the map of the footpaths around the barn, there are endless possibilities of rural countryside walks to enjoy. Whilst we went out for a short stretch of the legs on Saturday, there are so many more footpaths for us to explore!
The winter weather kept us inside in the warm most of the time, but the lovely, enclosed courtyard offered an outdoor dining space, with BBQ and swingball we would love to have used in some warmer weather.
Framlingham hosts a great market on Tuesdays and Saturdays with a host of local fresh produce and original artisan goods.
A quick flick through the guest book showed just how much our guests love Yew Tree Farm Barn, especially the games room! ‘Fabulous time had by all. The Barn is amazing, great facilities, especially enjoyed the games room.”
Yew Tree Farm Barn and Yew Tree Farm Stable are perfect bases for a family get-together, celebration or even just a weekend away. The en-suite bedrooms combined with large open plan living space are perfect for family time whilst still offering the privacy and independence for large family groups. Yew Tree Farm Stable is a great addition in combination with Yew Tree Farm Barn to offer an extra living space nearby, still with its own kitchen, bathroom and living room. Don’t forget, both properties are ideal for anyone looking to take their dog with them on holiday, surrounded by lovely, rural walks.
The surrounding area offers beautiful walks in stunning rural surroundings, and does not compromise on practicality by having so many amenities in market town Framlingham little over 10 minutes away. There are plenty of good food choices within a short drive, with the Barn and Stable equally as well equipped to prepare your own meals if preferred. The on-site games room is great with a host of games and activities for those rare rainy days, with a host of other local attractions nearby.
Why not take a look at availability, and secure your break to Yew Tree Farm?
VIEW & BOOK YEW TREE FARM BARN
VIEW & BOOK YEW TREE FARM STABLE
VIEW & BOOK YEW TREE FARM BARN AND STABLE
by Morris / Tried and Tested
Hi! I'm Morris, the Best of Suffolk seagull representing stylish places to stay in Suffolk....
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