Cranbrook Oast, Cranbrook

Kent. Sleeps up to 12

The wonderfully characterful Cranbrook Oast is perfect for large groups of guests. It sleeps up to twelve lucky guests in five beautifully presented bedrooms. Its unique oast shape offers wonderful living and sleeping spaces and its exposed beams and bricks offer a warm, welcoming ambience. It is very generous in size and comes with a lovely garden and terrace for alfresco dining and relaxing. Cranbrook Oast is definitely the perfect place to bridge the gap between generations, to recharge and reinvigorate.

Cranbrook Oast sits in the pretty Kent village of Sissinghurst, close the famous Sissinghurst Castle Gardens laid out by the novelist Vita Sackville-West and diplomat Harold Nicholson. Sissinghurst is very attractive and was originally called Milkhouse Street before changing its name in the 1850’s. It has been voted the fifth best place in the country to live and plenty of famous people understand why and have chosen it as their home, including Ian Hislop. Nearby, Cranbrook is lovely with its medieval layout of streets and alleys sprinkled with independent shops, bars, and restaurants and with many of its buildings dating from the 15th century through to the 19th century. It is known as the ‘Capital of the Weald’ and enjoys the ancient Union Mill which is one of the most superior smock mills in the UK still in working order. Also nearby, Tenterden is also nestled in the heart of the Weald of Kent, rich in history and charm, beautiful architecture, excellent independent shops, and tree-lined greens. You can visit the famous Chapel Down Vineyard and take a nostalgic ride back in time on the Kent & East Sussex Railway, steaming along to Bodiam Castle.

Cranbrook Oast is a wonderful holiday home, brimming with beautiful furnishings. A spacious entrance hall takes you to superbly comfortable living spaces. One end of the living room comes with comfy sofas and a very large television for movie watching and relaxation as well as double doors to the garden. A giant fireplace with a log burning stove sits beyond this with a modern dining table and chairs opposite and there are yet more warmly toned sofas beyond. It is a giant living area, perfect for large groups. You will even discover a piano where you can have a little tinkle of the ivories. The kitchen and breakfast room are equally huge with a modern kitchen at one end and a farmhouse breakfast table at the end. The kitchen is a chef’s dream with excellent appliances including a giant American styled fridge freezer and a coffee machine. One of the bathrooms is located on the ground floor with a shower.

Upstairs you will discover five bedrooms. There are three double rooms with double beds, all beautifully dressed, another double with an ensuite bathroom and the last room with both a double bed and a set of bunk beds. This is a great family room. Some of the rooms and the upstairs landing enjoy characterful beams and exposed stone walls. The bedrooms are all huge. There is an immaculate family bathroom with a bath and shower as well as the ensuite on the first floor.

Cranbrook Oast is surrounded by lush lawns, colourful borders, two ponds and mature trees that offer total privacy. There is a quality barbecue on the terrace and furniture for alfresco dining. Families love the extensive garden for games, football, and chilling. Your barbecue masters can prepare a feast while you listen to the birdsong and enjoy each other’s company. You can even bring your furry friend to enjoy the garden and your holiday adventures.

Cranbrook Oast is nestled in the Weald of Kent in the quaint village of Sissinghurst. As well as enjoying a stunning ancient church, Sissinghurst is famous for Sissinghurst Castle Garden. Vita Sackville-West, the poet, and writer began transforming the castle and gardens in the 1930’s with her husband Harold Nicolson. Harold’s architectural planning of the garden rooms and the colourful planting in the gardens by Vita, reflect the romance of her poems and writings. Sissinghurst Castle Garden enjoys a fascinating history. It was a prison in the 1700’s, a home to the women’s land army and then a family home. Each of the gardens enjoys a different planting scheme and unique designs. Whatever time of year you visit, the garden is utterly beautiful. As you stroll through the Rose Garden, you can see Vita’s vision of a ‘tumble of roses and honeysuckle, figs and vines’. You will also appreciate Harold’s keenness for strict geometry in the circular shaped hedge. The famous White Garden offers as refreshing contrast to the rest of the colour in the garden. You will only see white, green, grey, and silver in this garden. With indoor spaces including the tower open to the public, you can dive into the rich literacy history of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson’s former home. The tower offers great views of the formal garden, the working farm and the four-hundred-and-fifty-acre estate and a different perspective of the garden’s layout. The library was originally used for entertaining by Vita and Harold and is now home to exhibitions throughout the year.

Cranbrook is nearby, a very pretty place that enjoys a rich cloth weaving heritage. Its Parish Church of St Dunstan is known as the ‘Cathedral of the Weald’ since Cranbrook is the Capital of the Weald. The Cranbrook Museum is housed in a 15th century cottage. Cranbrook boasts over sixty individual shops selling gifts, jewellery, vintage and designer cloths, specialist country clothing shops, furniture, and home accessory boutiques. There is a monthly auction at Bentley’s Fine Art Auctioneers who deal in furniture and jewellery as well as fine art. There is also a monthly farmer’s market held in the octagonal Vestry Hall which was built in 1859.

Tenterden is a picturesque town with a broad, tree-lined High Street sprinkled with independent shops, antiques centres, cafes, and restaurants. The town’s name is derived from the Old English ‘Tenet Waraden’ which meant a clearing in the forest, belonging to the men of Thanet. The town was an important wool trading centre in the 13th century and at that time had access to the sea at Smallhythe. You can visit the local museum to learn about the history of the town. Georgian buildings share the town’s streets with tall Victorian houses and tiny cottages, lots decorated with painted weatherboard. The Kent & East Sussex steam railway runs for ten and a half miles from Tenterden to Bodiam, welcoming around ninety thousand visitors a year. Tenterden Golf Club welcomes visitors as well as its members.

Close to Tenterden Chapel Down is England’s leading wine producer with an award-winning range of sparkling and still wines. You can visit for tours and experiences, tasting these delicious wines and learning about the vineyard. Chapel Down is one of the UK government’s Top 50 Food and Drink Producers and were the first English winery to feature on the London Stock Exchange’s 1000 Companies to Inspire Britain. They support many great English institutions such as England Cricket, The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, The London Symphony Orchestra, Ascot Racecourse, The Royal Opera House, The Donmar Warehouse and The Turner Contemporary.

Not far away, Rye is a Medieval citadel huddled against invaders and the sea, is today home to a myriad of art, curiosities and cosy pubs and restaurants. They serve the best that Sussex has to offer. Built on timeless tales and smuggled secrets, Rye offers charm and intrigue with nooks and crannies to explore and distant views across Romney Marsh to enjoy. St Mary’s Church tower is open to the public and offers the best viewpoint to show the warm terracotta roofs of the many timbered houses. These ancient, characterful buildings, cobbled streets and secret passages attract film crews in search of historical settings for period productions. The Rye Castle Museum was originally a bottling factory and now boasts a unique 18th century fire engine as well as relics from the town’s shipbuilding past. The Rye Harbour Nature Reserve has a wonderful network of criss crossing footpaths on the saltmarsh and shingle ridges with fabulous views across to Camber Sands and the cliffs of Hastings Country Park. It is a twitcher’s paradise with five hides where you can watch the wildlife. You can take boat trips or lessons in windsurfing, dinghy sailing or paddleboarding from Rye Watersports.

Also, within easy distance, Hastings enjoys a fascinating history. It was attacked by the French during the Hundred Years War and in 1377, a second attack all but destroyed the town. The Old Town’s architecture ranges from Medieval to Victorian with one of the oldest buildings, the Court House, being built around 1450. The town boasts many passages and narrow streets known as the twittens, many cafes, bars and restaurants and some excellent shops and art galleries. The Castle, originally built by William the Conqueror, lies in ruins at the top of West Hill and can be visited using the steepest funicular railway in Britain. The Hastings Museum and Art Gallery boasts an exhibition dedicated to American Indians, Grey Owl, an early conservationist who came from Hastings and John Logie Baird who pioneered television in Hastings. There are many architectural and cultural attractions including a theatre, parks, and gardens. Hastings hosts man events including the Hastings Half Marathon, the Jack in the Green Festival, Hastings Beer Festival, Coastal Currents, and the Old Town Carnival.

Camber Sands is a fabulous beach in the village of Camber. It is the only sand dune system in East Sussex, east of the estuary of the River Rother at Rye Bay, and stretches three glorious miles to just beyond the Kent border.