My family and I take an early Summer road trip from Leeds to Suffolk to check out beautiful family-friendly glamping spot Secret Meadows...
As we’re weaving through the narrow country lanes my husband and I are already chattering about the beautiful countryside approaching Secret Meadows and how amazing that the sea and forests are all in such close proximity.
Already a big tick for the location nestled close to the village of Hasketon in Suffolk. The back seat has a different type of chattering going on with my oldest son, of 4 years, constantly asking "Are we there yet?!"
We arrive at last and stretch our legs, on doing this we see the board that lists the tent name with our surname next to it. Our home for the weekend is Meadowsweet, which is very apt. Cars are parked up and not allowed into the glamping area so the cutest of brightly coloured trolleys are available to trundle our luggage to the tent in. This has put a grand halt to the are we nearly there yets and they have turned into can I help to pull the trolley. Brilliant!
Liam was on hand as we arrived and settled in and he showed us around the pantry with the variety of locally sourced food we could buy, all using a wonderful honesty system. He showed us the ice cream tubs in the freezer and at this point we knew we were cornered and buying ice cream was on the agenda as the words came out of my sons mouth “Can we buy some?” It’s holidays, what a great excuse, “Of course we can” I reply.
We take our first adventure to find our tent and are not disappointed by the expanse of space and privacy that each tent allows, with a small total of only six. We have front seat views of the prettiest meadow, as well as those blue skies and sunshine in the day and the bright moon and stars by night. The inside had so many homely touches from framed pictures to a sofa to a candle lit chandelier, and all of this with an en-suite toilet and shower room with gloriously hot running water. It could have been easy to forget you were actually in a tent!
We introduce ourselves to our chickens that have a coop some way from the tent on the edge of the meadow, but close enough to take a quick skip, hop and jump to see if there are any eggs.
My husband is in his axe wielding element after we’re shown how best to chop the wood for the fire without losing a hand or finger and he’s itching to test if the wood is dry and going to start the wood burning range we have for heating and cooking on. Trust me, we have experienced damp wood and no fire on a cold evening in January before so these are real fears!
We don’t have to wait too long until the starry clear sky means the fire is lit, the wood is roaring and the range is warming the tent at a quick pace. This all adds to the excitement of bedtime with my son’s bed in a cupboard that he’d been obsessed with all afternoon. It’s super cosy and warmed from the fire and has doors that open from both sides with a little stool to step out onto.
I breathe in the crisp air when I pop outside to the toilet to get ready for bed and feel that feeling of being close to nature. It feels relaxing, like you’re really far away from everyday life and the noise of the crackling fire as you fall asleep just aids this even more.
The next morning I feel a strong tug on my arm with a “can we go and check if there are any eggs Mummy?" We got lucky on more than one occasion and when we did it was so great seeing my son get involved with collecting the eggs when I would usually ask him to get a box off of the supermarket shelf. We also loved watching our youngest son of 14 months and his excited wonderment at everything around him, especially the chickens!
Breakfast was cooked leisurely on the range and included our freshly laid eggs. It was followed by a walk in the woodland and meadows where our eldest loved to take his own route, find sticks, and run through the long grass.
Naptime was upon us for our youngest and this allowed me my very special ten minutes of peaceful sunbathing in the hammock with only the birds' singing to be heard. The boys were on an ice cream adventure to decide on the all-important flavour choice! I wasn’t complaining.
We enjoyed an afternoon of paddling, sandcastle building and beach pebble fascination at Dunwich Heath, a really beautiful unspoilt beach around a half hour drive from our glamping site. After a quick food shop we were back at our home and the BBQ was lit ready for dinner. It was lovely to cook and watch our sons playing and being able to run and crawl around knowing there were no cars, it was safe and there was the space to truly enjoy being outside.
A wonderful weekend was had by all, what a great way for our sons to experience their first camping trip and the great outdoors.