Oh. My. Goodness! Where on earth do I start? This is very belated, however I really wanted to share!
We decided (after much deliberation) to have a "staycation" last year for our holiday. The main reason being that we absolutely fell in love with a holiday to Mexico (but that needed more than just a week) and nothing else came close!
Back in April, we had intended to stay at Babington House for my birthday, but what happened to last year? Time just flew by and before we knew it, we were in September!
We were SO incredibly excited to book this stay. We were in serious need of a little break to switch off and have some much needed quality time together. And that's exactly what we did!
After an almost 3 hour drive from Kent to Somerset, we arrived at the magnificent Babington. As we reached closer and closer to our destination, it was becoming more and more apparent that this was going to be heavenly. Out in the middle of the countryside with the loudest noise being, well, probably the cows? Bliss!
We approached the last turning and headed down a long, picturesque wooded drive... and there it was in all it's glory! Just like the photographs, beautiful Babington. I can't put into words just how beautiful this building and it's entire grounds were. It was truly stunning. One day, just one day I WILL get married here (when I win the lottery, haha!)
I mean, nothing will ever quite compare to the real thing, being there in person.. but I think the pictures just speak for themselves! The grounds were just absolutely breath taking, it was just the definition of a dream!
We arrived a little earlier than our check in time, so our room wasn't quite ready. But the staff were so welcoming from the very beginning, taking our bags to our room whilst they finished preparing and parking our car so we didn't have to walk back in the rain (typical, we'd driven away from one of the most beautiful days in Kent for pouring rain and a thunder storm), and so we decided to head into the Orangery for some much needed lunch. Despite the rain, it was stunning! Above was the view whilst we ate, the rain began to clear and the sun was trying to show it's face.
After lunch, we still had a little time to kill before our room was ready so we went for a little explore around the grounds. Just from every angle this place inside and out was just incredible!
The decor here in the Bar was particularly my favourite. These are just some sneaky snaps as phones were actually not allowed in these areas (naughty Paige!).
We decided to stay in one of the Coach Houses, it was like a cosy little cottage all to yourself, I'm so pleased we chose a room there! As you walked into your room, you walked into the main living area complete with sofa, tv and of course a mini bar! There was also a stunning spiral staircase which led up to the bedroom, which was like a split level room with the most cosy bed and wooden beamed ceilings. (I'll leave some short tour videos at the end of this post!)
Walking through the living area, you walked into the bathroom which tucked around the corner where there was a beautiful waterfall shower room, and standing between the living and bathroom area was the dreamy roll top bath.. complete with every Cowshed product you could ever dream of! I'm not ashamed to say I bathed three times one day, just so I could try every product!
I mean just look at how relaxing that is? Ahhh.. and the bedroom was just as stunning. We were so pleased with the room, we immediately felt relaxed and homely. So many gorgeous little touches, including the cosiest dressing gowns in the entire world.
I wasted no time in sticking the kettle on after spotting this delicious tea set! And what's more? There were home baked cookies in a beautiful vintage tin for us to eat too.
Followed of course by my first bath, using every product I possibly could, and washing my hair just for the sake of it (who does that!? haha) and we spent a few hours in our dressing gowns watching a film - it was perfect!
We stayed for 2 nights here at Babington, and I wish we could have stayed forever. There wasn't enough time to try all of the delicious food on offer for starters, everything was delicious, I mean just look at these desserts!
After dining, we spent most evenings in the Bar and outside under the the twinkling lights. We were lucky as on the second night they began preparing for a wedding (I know, I was nearly crying haha) so they were adding the twinkling lights and lanterns to the huge tree outside and upon arrival they'd set out fresh flowers for the Bride & Groom in their wedding colours (and I presume probably the same flowers too!) with tea lights all around. It was SO beautiful.
I truly can't explain just how relaxing and homely this whole stay was. We just took each day as it came, and really just chilled out. I particularly enjoyed finishing the evening in the Bar with a hot chocolate, followed by an evening stroll through the grounds back to our room. I have to also mention how made up I was on the first night when walking back to have the tiniest 4 month old puppy Frenchie toddle on up to my feet in the pitch black. She was a dinky, all white bundle of cuteness called Lola who came away for a little break too - I LOVE that you could bring your dog along to your stay here!
The next morning, I awoke to a dehydrated (I don't know if that's the correct terminology but he was in pretty bad shape) bee buzzing over the bed sheets. It totally freaked me out, I couldn't see it at first and thought a huge angry spider was crawling over the sheets!! Needless to say, after helping said bee with some sugary water and popping him back outside, I was now wide awake. So time for tea again it was! Sorry, I just couldn't help photographing this set. I want it!!
And can we just take a moment to appreciate the impeccable lighting in this room? I felt like a goddess.. don't worry, I came back down to earth after realising it was just a great mirror and fantastic lighting... sigh! Haha!
I really wanted to order room service for some dippy eggs and soldiers, however bossy George didn't want to ;) haha! So we went down to the Orangery for breakfast. Quite possibly the most expensive fry up I've ever had, but it was incredibly delicious and we had copious juice, tea and access to a bar full of fresh fruit, yoghurts, pastries the lot. I am not ashamed to say that I 100% stuffed my face.
We headed out for a bike ride shortly after, I was totally nervous as I hadn't ridden a bike since approximately age 12? Bikes were free to use as you pleased, and we picked up a bike route from reception and headed out down the long drive, DOWN A MAIN, NARROW ROAD (yes, I was crapping myself) but we quickly passed through into the bike route, I thought I was a goner!
As you can see, I soon got my cocky confidence back ;)
It was a brilliant ride, I absolutely ached by the end of it, as the travel back was all uphill - doh! But it was worth it. And hey ho, we were due our massage at the Cowshed Spa that afternoon, something I was SO looking forward to.
I unfortunately didn't manage to capture many photos of the spa (as again, you wasn't supposed to have your phone, but I'm a rebel), but you can trust me when I say it was the most peaceful, tranquil place on this earth. Worth every penny in my opinion.. The place was full to the brim, naturally, with Cowshed, and smelt incredible. We were welcomed into a lounge area 15 minutes prior to our book in time, which might I add was beautifully decorated, where we filled in a questionnaire on our health, offered fresh fruit water, and then we headed through to our massage rooms.
We went for a full body couples massage, and although we were together, we were treated individually to our own preferences. We got to choose our scent of oil, and they began by warming this between their hands and placing them under the massage table (to where our little faces were peeping through those odd little face holes) and asked us to take in 3 deep breathes. I don't know what was in that stuff, but I was ready to fall asleep right then and there. The massage was beautiful, and I felt so sleepy afterwards, however I like hard, deep tissue massages and this didn't quite hit that for me. But i'll know for next time! The massage was followed by a fresh homemade lemon and ginger tea, whilst we sat in the Orchard of dreams. This place was just magical.
Afternoon relaxing with a Pimm's and a little chill out on the lounge beds outside, followed by a swim in the indoor and outdoor pool was dreamy. They also had there a gym and sauna, as well as cinema room too! Unfortunately, we didn't get to try out the cinema as the evening we wanted to it was privately booked out.. darn you Alesha Dixon, haha! We'd spotted her arriving whilst playing pool in the games room shortly after we'd arrived. I can't believe I was also only days out from bumping into Tanya Burr too, I could have cried when I saw her stay pop up on Instagram!
But hey ho, I cannot complain. I had the most beautiful stay and will definitely be back again. I'd love to try Soho Farmhouse next, maybe I can persuade George for a few nights sometime this year (hint, hint!).
That's all from me, I hope I didn't bore you all too much. Enjoy the little tour videos I captured on my Instagram stories - a far cry from being there in person, but I hope you get the idea!
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