Hot tub, gardens and grounds
Life here is slow and easy. It’s a place to drift and dream. When the sun breaks out, you’ll glide effortlessly from the kitchen sitting area to the private walled garden to make big plans over long drinks.
At mealtimes, the sizzle of steaks on the barbecue breaks the silence. For dessert, maybe some bubbly and some bubbles in the hot tub, with its soundtrack of swishing grasses and vista of rolling hills.
Living spaces
To live at The Old Mill is to love it. Life here is a world of tactile textiles. Amid the vast spaces, you’ll pad barefoot over the flagstone floors and oak boards. The squishy sofas invite a good read, and the beams and exposed-stone walls add an authentic elegance.
The heart of this home is the open-plan kitchen-diner. Its space, oak tables, seating area and rural ambience suggest holiday jaunts broken at a wayside tearoom for scones and coffee. If you love Agas, you might want to cook up a saga yourself. Alternatively, make light of entertaining and hire in one of the recommended chefs or have meals delivered – the choice is yours. Our chef will come running, armed with the fruits of this lush landscape: pure beef, chicken, fresh asparagus and maybe a draft of cider. Put your feet up and raise a glass to fresh air and freedom.
After dinner, there’s fun to be had in the Hayloft’s games room, with wifi and movies to catch in the TV room. Wrap up the day beside the woodburner, with cracking conversation and crackling logs.
Cooking and Dining
The huge 65ft open-plan country kitchen-diner in The Mill is perfect for chopping and chatting. Beneath the oak beams sit the homely charms of flagstone floors and exposed-stone walls. A seating area with TV awaits drinks and nibbles; chat and laughter, whilst there’s room for all to dine together round the table.
The warm ambience created by family and friends hangs in the air here, but it’s kick-started by the heat from the Aga.
This is a sumptuous space, with room for all and light flooding in from the wall of windows that gaze upon the private walled garden. Throw open the French doors, let the sunlight flood in and pile the tables high with steak and salad, fresh root veg and saucy cider.
Bedrooms
There’s plenty to do, see, eat and drink in rural Herefordshire, but we’ll forgive you for wanting to put the day into fast-forward so you can simply hit the sack. In beamed bedrooms, enclosed by exposed-stone walls, bare feet will wander over flagged floors or deep carpets to sleep in pocket-sprung beds layered in soft cotton.
Leave the window a little ajar, let in the pure rural air and you’ll invite deep sleep and vivid dreams. Let the battle for the bedrooms begin.
There are 12 equally gorgeous bedrooms; four in each property, every one with character etched deeply into the stonework, flags and quirky furnishings. The Hayloft does not have direct access to the The Mill, so you may want to keep this area for grown ups or older children, and pop the little ones in bed in The Mill, or The Byre with direct access through the private courtyard.
What people say
Land of castles and culture
Take country walks straight from the door, head to the Malvern Hills, ride the rapids and climb the rock faces. Visit ancient courts and castles. Taste the beefiest local beef and the freshest fresh veg. There’s culture to burn with poetry in Ledbury and folk in Bromyard. Dine at The Stagg Inn, visit historic houses and shop till you drop at Hereford’s Old Market and local independents in Hay-on-Wye, Ludlow and Presteigne.
