This beautiful period property dates back to the Strode-Barrington family who lived here in the 16th century. It has been recently renovated to offer modern amenities in comfortable historic surroundings. The drawing room offers a large socialising space with deep comfortable sofas, a games table, bar and additional seating. There are a selection of board games, a games console, Netflix and other streaming services alongside the wireless broadband.
The bedrooms offer plenty of accommodation for up to 20 guests (2 additional guests can be accommodated on request) with 7 bedrooms, most boasting ensuite bathrooms. The bedrooms offer such features as four poster beds, pearl inlay woodwork, intricate carved headboards and a log burner. The dining room offers seating around the large dining table with plenty of crockery and glassware for all. The kitchen has an American style fridge freezer, a separate free standing drinks fridge, a dishwasher and electric cooker all fitted around the worktop manufactured from recycled glass bottles.
The 6 bathrooms have been recently updated with beautiful Calacatta marble and limestone alongside new fittings. The leisure facilities offer something for everyone. Whether it be the large premium hot tub with jets, fountains and waterfalls, or the games room with something for all ages.
This property offers the perfect place to celebrate with your friends and family.
About this space
The drawing room is a generous 32m squared and offers a fireplace and beautiful large windows. The bedrooms feature tall ceilings, original features and beautiful furniture. The dining room has a large farmhouse dining table. The kitchen boasts an American style fridge and freezer, a separate drinks fridge, a dishwasher and electric oven.
The lounge is large and light, features an original fireplace and can be used as one of the bedrooms if required. The games room offers a good selection of games in addition to the games console and board games available in the drawing room. The garden is large and offers space for outdoor games to keep all of the family entertained.
The property is for your exclusive and private use during your stay.
– The outdoor areas close at 9pm and we ask that music is only played inside. Noise should be limited after midnight out of respect for our neighbours.
– Groups of under 25s and New Years Eve guests will be asked for a behaviour bond which is refunded on checkout.
– Early check-in and late check-out can on occasion be accommodated, this is chargeable at the same hourly rate as your stay
This property is great for
Family holidays – There is a great selection of activities to keep all of the family entertained for your stay. For those sunny days there are many outdoor activities including football, swings, croquet, netball and badminton. Don’t forget the large premium hot tub to relax after a day full of fun outside. When the weather isn’t as good try the wide array of board and card games, darts, the chess table, pool table, table tennis, an Xbox with over 50 games and even a roulette table should you fancy a flutter. Locally there are loads of attractions including Wookey Hole, Cheddar Gorge caves, Longleat Safari Park, go karting, paintball, museums, water based activities and much more. Also the cities of Wells, Bath and Bristol offer culture and kids activities.
Celebrations and kids parties – There is loads of space both inside and outside the property to host your special birthday or anniversary celebration or kids party. There are three outdoor terraces with tables and seating for over 30 guests, while inside there is a huge main dining table in the dining room as well as a smaller dining table should you need to dine out of the rain and cold. For the kids, there is space for bouncy castles on the lawn (Enquire for pricing) and kids entertainment.
Stag Dos and Hen parties – The large socialising space makes this property perfect for hosting and entertaining a group for a hen or stag do. Bedrooms for everyone, including sleeping space for up to 22. If your stags/hens don’t want to share a double bed there are14 beds if not everyone knows each other as well. The hot tub is great for relaxing and there is terrace space for additional hot tubs if the one premium hot tub is not quite enough (Enquire for pricing). For a list of local activities while you are staying please get in touch.
Yoga and Pilates retreats – For the summer the large, flat front lawn offers a great space for an outdoor retreat. Should the weather not be as comfortable, the large drawing room is over 30m squared and offers plenty of space to lay out your matts in the warm. The hot tub helps soothe the muscles and further relax the mind after a good workout.
Activity breaks/holidays – With such vast countryside around the property based in between Wells and Bath the property offers a great base for activity holidays. Right on the edge of the Mendip Hills, the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty there are countless hikes, walks, caves and gorges to explore. There are also excellent cycle routes for all abilities with hills and flats to keep everyone happy, and loads of local pubs/cafes for a well deserved rest along the way. There are other activities like clay pigeon shooting, paintball, rifle shooting, golf, go karting, racing and bubble football for those who wish to tire themselves out.
Business meetings, corporate events and small conferences – There are two large inside spaces suitable for meetings or small conferences. The dining room offers workspace for everyone with good access to WIFI along with plug sockets so everyone can plug in. A projector and screen can be made available (Please enquire at time of booking to ensure availability) for presentations. For a more casual meeting the huge drawing room offers comfortable seating with a large TV for displaying content. If you need someone to serve refreshments or provide catering please get in touch. We are VAT registered so you can claim the 20% VAT back to make your event even more cost effective.
Guest Access
You have your own private entrance which allows 24 hour check-in, we leave the key in a lock box (code supplied via email).
Interaction with Guests
We are available via call/text. We like to give our guests as much privacy as they like, therefore the keys are left in a secure location so you can check-in and check-out whenever you wish.
The Neighbourhood
Downside is located between Wells, the smallest city in England and the charming historic market town of Frome. There is a huge array of local activities including Wookey Hole, Cheddar Gorge caves, Longleat Safari Park, museums, water based activities and much more. Wells is just over 10 mins away and has a huge amount to offer for any group of friends of family. Bath is around 25 minutes from the property (subject to traffic) and has an array of cultural sights and vibrant nightlife. Frome is 20 minutes away and offers access to a great selection of eateries, markets, parks, walled gardens and old cobbled streets.
Location
Getting Around
There is free parking available at the property for 5/6 cars with additional parking locally.
There is a bus stop just 2 minutes walk from the property.
Travel to Bath is easy, there is a bus, or with a car you can use the park and ride (about 25 mins away) or you can park in the city (around 30 mins depending on traffic). An Uber costs around £7.50 per passenger into the centre of bath. A private minibus is around £9.
If your dates do not show as available just drop us an email as we can normally accommodate you:
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We had an amazing weekend!!! Beautiful house and everything was exactly as advertised. Excellent communication with the host. Would definitely recommend
We enjoyed our weekend, a family get together. The accommodation was clean and well equipped but the layout a bit strange
There were plenty of modern bathrooms which were very clean
We had a good weekend although the weather was not good
Great venue, would highly recommend.
But be wary of additional policy (“Behaviour Bond”) for guests aged between 18-25. I don’t recall seeing this on the booking and whilst I didn’t impact my booking, worthwhile noting for other future users!
Otherwise, happy with the experience.
Great place for big groups we really enjoyed it!
Matthew and Eleanor were both great, they were very flexible, there were loads of towels, place was great.
we ran out of gas for BBQ and called the emergency number and gave us a new cannister, I cant fault the place and amenities
ONLY thing was that there was no coffee machine (despite promised), Matthew (host) said it leaked after the previous guests left but we all have to be flexible so we didn't make a big deal about it, specially as they were very nice and flexible with us.
The bedrooms were big but the bathrooms were all GREAT, they were all newly refurbished.
We had a lovely weekend at Eleanor’s place. A good base for a large group of friends
We spent a wonderful weekend in Downside. A great space for dining and relaxing with friends; loved the hot tub (even on a chilly evening); and used the well-equipped kitchen to the max! Great proximity to beautiful countryside and we really enjoyed visits to Glastonbury and Wells, which are both in very easy reach. Definitely a recommended place to stay 🙂
Great place for large group. Loads of kitchen equipment. Fab wine fridge. Stunning rooms and the hot tub was a bonus!
Such a lovely house with so much character. The gardens were beautiful, beds comfy and rooms beautifully decorated. I loved my stay here and would come again
We had a fantastic stay at the property for my hen do plenty of space for all 16 of us and the hot tub was wonderful! Thank you 🙂