Elderwood Retreat, Mangerton

Dorset. Sleeps up to 20

Set in fourteen glorious acres, Elderwood Retreat epitomises the very best in luxury self-catering holiday accommodation. Sleeping up to twenty guests in ten exquisite bedrooms, this magnificent retreat is the perfect pick to bring the generations or your very favourite friends together to celebrate a special event. You will feel the tranquility fold around you as you relax and catch up in absolute peace and quiet. The list of entertainment is endless as the barn boasts a superb swimming pool, a steam room, games room, a well-equipped gym, a media room with a 3D television with a Sky HD package and Netflix, a Sonos sound system and plenty of board games. Outside, there is a sauna, wood fired hot tub, a small plunge pool, badminton, petanque, croquet, football, cricket, wild swimming, acres of stunning gardens, the Mangerton River, a campfire summer kitchen and glorious woodland. In the main house there are exquisite entertainment spaces with a piano and Sonos sound system. Elderwood Retreat is a heavenly retreat brimming with lavish contemporary and vintage furnishings, the very best of fittings and a superb inviting ambience. It is a private paradise, perfect for your next country getaway.

This truly amazing retreat lives in a land lost in time in Mangerton, just north of the beautiful market town of Bridport in Dorset. You can visit the iconic Durdle Door, Lulworth Cove, the dramatic Jurassic cliffs facing out to Lyme Bay and hunt for fossils on Chesil Beach. You can take a stroll around the Elizabethan Mapperton House and Gardens, sip delicious wine on the beautiful Furleigh Estate, learn about fossils at the Bridport Museum, take the little ones to Farmer Palmer’s Farm Park or play golf at Bridport and West Dorset Golf Club. You can spend the day at the wonderfully characterful Lyme Regis and visit the Marine Aquarium, walk some of the South West Coastal Path, visit West Bay, famous for its part in Broadchurch, head to Abbotsbury for the Children’s Farm and Swannery or ride on the Swanage Railway. The list is endless and Elderwood Retreat makes the best base that you could possibly imagine.

Elderwood Retreat is a period property with swagger and style. It is enveloped by beautiful gardens where you can dine alfresco, enjoy a tipple or two as you bask in the golden hour sun or head to the river to prepare pizzas in the outdoor kitchen. Inside the main building, there are giant entertainment spaces where everyone can get together. You will discover a highly impressive chef’s dream of a kitchen diner, a back kitchen, spacious front and rear halls and two living rooms with glorious period fireplaces, one with a television where you can cosy up with Netflix and a piano where you can tinkle the ivories. The living spaces boast specially commissioned wallpaper, unique lighting, sumptuous furnishings and three roaring fires for a crackling atmosphere. Leather clad wing backed chairs mingle with lavish velvet sofas, stunning accent chairs and wonderful contemporary numbers. Giant mirrors lean against walls while wonderful handpicked accessories are scattered around. The second living room makes a perfect playroom and television room for little ones. The games room offers a full-sized pool table and a football table. The kitchen diner is a phenomenal space, beautifully crafted, totally unique and drowned in the unique sparkle of Dorset light through floor to ceiling doors and ceiling skylights. The dining table seats up to twenty guests and is very stylish. The kitchen is an incredibly sociable space with stools perched by the central island. The chefs in your group will be delighted by the quality appliances including an oven, five burner hob, large American style fridge freezer, four fridge drawers, two dishwashers and a Jura bean-to-cup coffee machine. You can stock up on fizz from Palmers Wine Store, meat from Frampton’s Butchers, cheese from Town Mill, fish from Davy’s Fish Locker and fresh produce from Washingpool Farm Shop. You may want to get several meals catered for you. Everything is possible.

There are six sensational Lefroy Brooks fitted bedrooms in the main house, five of which enjoy ensuite bathrooms. One offers sumptuous twin beds and the others all boast lavish kingsize or super kingsize beds, all beautifully adorned in luxury linens and tasteful soft furnishings. They offer the sleep of kings and you will be forgiven for thinking you are in a boutique hotel. There are two bedrooms in the apartment annexe and another two in the barn. The rooms in the barn offer immaculate, brilliantly fitted ensuite bathrooms and the apartment offers a smart shared shower room. The apartment annexe overlooks the garden and is a great spot to watch the sunset and admire the extensive views.

The barn is an incredible bonus for your holiday. It boasts a stunning heated indoor infinity pool with a wall of glass looking out to the kitchen garden and the hills, a fabulous steam room, a gym wiht cardio and multigym equipment, a sun room and a cinema room with a 3D screen with Netflix and Sky channels. It is superb and offers plenty of indulgent entertainment for all ages. Upstairs you will find two ensuite bedrooms, ideal for young adults. One of the rooms can sleep four guests in single beds. Elderwood Retreat really is an oasis of gracious and glorious living in the Dorset countryside!

Outside, the retreats fourteen acres are astounding. There are lush lawns sitting ripe and ready for your dogs to laze in the afternoon sun and kids to stampede towards the pond for wild swimming. As you walk through the woodland areas you will quickly get lost in the bird song and country air. It is a place for champagne, cream teas and croquet as well as wonderful alfresco meals cooked on the barbecue. Elderwood Retreat’s own spring feeds the swimming pond which is kept clean by a natural plant filtration system. Swimming in the natural pond is an invigorating experience. One of the highlights of your stay will be sitting around the campfire enjoying delicious homemade pizzas from the wood fired oven. The canopied campfire area is a fantastic entertainment space whatever the weather. Down by the oxbow lake, you will discover the sauna, a plunge pool and a wood fired hot tub, another gorgeous space that you will thoroughly enjoy. It enjoys atmospheric festoon lighting and a firepit. It sits at the end of the boardwalk that snakes through the hazelnut grove. The estate surrounding Elderwood Retreat is allowed to proliferate naturally while protecting indigenous plants and supporting a healthy population of native wildlife. You will enjoy watching an abundance of river birds and otters on the hunt for river trout. You are very welcome to pick from the kitchen garden for your lunch or supper.

Elderwood Retreat offers an unbeatable option for celebrations and get togethers. Its entertainment list is endless and its style and comfort absolutely superb. It has so many aces up its sleeve and its toys just keep coming. You will enjoy a simply fabulous holiday and return home with magical memories. There isn’t even any need to go far for the coast, the rugged and beautiful Chesil Beach is really close.

Elderwood Retreat enjoys a fabulous location, just inland from some of the famous Jurassic Coast beaches. It is an area where you can devour Dorset seafood, washed down with some of the best views in England looking out to The Cobb and Jurassic Coast at Hix Oyster and Fish House. Chesil Beach boasts the fantastic Hive Beach Cafe with its yummy fish dishes and fine wines. Otherwise, you can head to River Cottage headquarters for Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall’s cookery school and ambitious menus.

Bridport, as well as being the gateway to the magical Jurassic coastline and the stunning West Beach, is a thriving cultural market town. It has a fascinating antiques quarter, twice-weekly markets on Wednesdays and Saturdays, regular farmer’s and antiques markets and a wonderful range of evening entertainment. It is a popular filming location. Bridport has a rope-making heritage and boasts a good reputation for arts, culture, events and food. The Bridport and West Dorset Golf Club boasts an outstanding 18 hole course that enjoys sea views stretching across Lyme Bay and along Chesil Beach. The club enjoys a restaurant, lounge and spikes bar as well as a driving range and putting green.

You can visit Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove, stroll along the Cobb, take a boat trip with City Cruises to Swanage from Poole or take a tour of Town Mill, a six hundred year old working watermill milling flour. Mapperton House and Gardens are only ten minutes’ drive from Elderwood Retreat and come with a beautiful valley garden surrounding an Elizabethan manor house with a church, stable block, coach house, dovecote and courtyard. The vineyard at the Furleigh Estate offers Friday and Saturday wine tastings that also offer delicious cheeses. You can also tour and sip the finest craft ciders at Dorset Nectar Cider. Portland offers beautiful sunset walks around the Portland Bill lighthouse. The Tout Quarry Nature Reserve and Sculpture Park is an abandoned stone quarry which has been turned into a wonderful stone sculpture park, a haven for wild flowers and butterflies.

Charmouth is a delightful unspoilt seaside village with a stunning beach renowned for its fossils. It retains old world charm and offers many pubs, cafes and shops. The Charmouth Heritage Centre offers guided fossil hunting on the beach. It is two miles from Lyme Regis. There is something going on in Lyme Regis thoughout the year. Even In January you can enjoy the annual Lyme Lunge where a costumed crowd runs into the water. In April the Fossil Festival showcases the Jurassic Coast’s most famous rocks. May sees the Jazz and Blues Festival and August sees the annual Regatta. There is a carnival to close the summer and autumn opens with Guitars on the Beach, a mass singalong. In November fireworks dazzle the crowd and then come the spectacular Christmas lights

There are many circular countryside walks surrounding Bridport and West Bay offering spectacular panoramic views. You will see diverse wildlife. You may also want to explore the National Cycle Network.

Dorchester is Dorset’s vibrant county town and the birthplace of the famous author and poet Thomas Hardy. You can visit interesting museums, shop until you drop, enjoy riverside walks, quaint cafes and some of the country’s best preserved Roman ruins. The Dorset County Show takes place in Dorchester every September. It is a celebration of the area’s agricultural history with many displays.