Our weekend away at Hampton Lodge
Travel

Relaxing weekend at Hampton Lodge

Recently I got to enjoy a fabulous 3 day break at the glorious Hampton Lodge in Shropshire. After a hectic couple of weeks at work, running around South East London doing the nursery run; a long weekend was well and truly deserved. And Hampton Lodge fitted the bill perfectly.

We booked this trip a long time ago after deciding to treat ourselves during the same weekend when our husband’s would be going on their annual golfing trip to North Wales. The trip was very much a family affair with my mother in law, both sister’s in law, and all the children – 5 in total going. When were looking to book the perfect place to stay, our main Google search term was “cottages with hot tub”. As at the time of booking the trip I was on maternity leave, and wanted to be able to create a spa experience in the evening with the girls once all the babies and children were in bed.

Hampton Lodge

So when the weekend came around, I was very excited. The drive to Hampton Lodge is on narrow country lanes, and then down a long gravel drive with fields either side. I did wonder if we were at the right place. However we soon saw our lovely wooden chalet overlooking green fields with sheep and shetland ponies. Our first impressions of Hampton Lodge was that it was stunning, imagine a ski type chalet but in Shropshire. There is a large open plan kitchen diner and living area with cosy furniture, a feature effect log-burner, and huge windows looking out onto the deck overlooking fields. The lodge is set away from all other houses and roads, so it really is the perfect place to escape every day life and to relax.

Hampton Lodge

Hampton Lodge


 We were eager to explore the property which contained 4 bedrooms in total. On the ground floor there are 3 bedrooms – 2 doubles (1 with ensuite), and 1 twin  room. Then up the stairs from the living area there is a huge double room with an ensuite. I was fortunate enough to have this room, and enjoyed looking down at everyone below in the living room, plus it was the only room with a bath which made it easier with the little one.

On the day that we arrived we had a gorgeous home cooked Lasagne, which is the beauty about self-catering is you can bring ready prepared food from home so all you have to do is put it in the oven. We also enjoyed a new drink – White Port and Tonic, which is delicious, you should try it. It was so good that the bottle of Port never made it home again. After dinner and once the babies and children were in bed, I must have sat in the hot tub for over an hour becoming a prune. The fresh air and busy day must have made us all sleepy as our little one slept in until 8am!

This pattern of drinks, dinner and hot tub continued for the next two nights during our stay at Hampton Lodge. I also tried really hard to encourage my daughter to walk, as we had recently been pulled up by the nursery for her not walking yet. However by the end of the weekend she was happily coasting the furniture and wanting to crawl after her cousins.

As well as being a great place to unwind in the evenings Hampton Lodge has so much space around it for children to play and run around, and play Swingball and Badminton too.

Places to explore

Hampton Lodge makes a perfect base to explore the local area, and there are so many places to visit. During our three night break we visited the following places:

Ellesmere

This is a lovely small town situated next to Ellesmere (a big lake), and is the nearest town to Hampton Lodge. We parked in the Ellesmere Lake main car park and then walked down to the Lake by a restaurant called The Boathouse. On the day that we went visited Ellesmere, the festival Merefest was taking place. This is an ideal family festival with falconry, stalls, kids face painting, fire engine you could climb onto, alpaca, ice cream vans, and mini-shows (that were a bit random). The children enjoyed it, and my little one enjoyed seeing Freddie and Fiorella the Alpaca.

Ellesmere

Merefest

Alpaca

Chirk Castle

This is a beautiful National Trust property, the first National Trust castle that I have been to with my membership, set just over the border in Wales. The castle and grounds are stunning, and we were lucky to enjoy front rows seats at the end of the garden with views over the Welsh landscape. At the time that we were visiting there was a medieval re-enactment taking place and battle. It was actually pretty realistic with babies even dressed up in Medieval outfits.

Chirk Castle

Chirk Castle

Chirk Castle

The Cross Foxes

This is a fantastic pub on the border of England and Wales with a pretty special menu. I choose the pie and it was really tasty. The pub is lovely with views over the River Dee, and stepped seating outside that would be nice to enjoy in the sunshine.

The Cross Foxes

We all had a wonderful stay at Hampton Lodge, I would recommend this to any family or group of friends wanting to have an idyllic weekend or week away from it all. The owners are lovely, and they leave you a beautiful cake for you to enjoy on your arrival. I wrote this review as I felt that Hampton Lodge is a beautiful place that deserves to be shared. Please don’t all rush there, I would love to go back.

Claire x

The Pramshed
Two Tiny Hands
Cuddle Fairy

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