For gathering
In the end, we’ll look back at the pictures we took beside that fire pit, in that treehouse, dancing around that kitchen island, and we’ll say: “look at us, we always filled those big houses to the rafters.”
Welcome to the family reunion: where kith and kin gather in large houses around the nation. Out on the wind-whipped balcony, an imaginative elder points out to sea and tells concocted stories of fisticuffs with sharks and trading treasures with the Pirates of Penzance. Inside, there’s fresh coffee and sweet apples from the orchard; and fair isle socks muffle the thuds of young ones testing their pillow obstacle course.
This winter is for coming together in luxury, for dogs dodging tumbling stacks of Jenga, for floating in and out of slumber as the stardust-souled play a motion picture, and the whole group gathers in the fire-warmed snug. Tables piled high with crackers and trailing grapes. Cheese boards and nut bowls and jars of fruit chutney; no space left for elbows. Carafes slosh with plummy Malbecs until the last drop is poured, well into the small hours.
Forestkeepers
Fordingbridge, New Forest, Hampshire, UK
A bespoke treehouse, zip-wire, and outdoor pool await at Forestkeepers, where a garden gate leads straight into Hampshire's New Forest, tempting picnics in woodland glades.
Sleeps: Up to 12 guests (8 adults and 4 children)
Alternative Group Option: Up to 6 guests
From: £3,995 per week, £2,995 per short break
Pets: Two well-behaved dogs are welcome, or three on prior request
Features: Heated outdoor swimming pool (available from Friday 14th March to Friday 14th November 2025), treehouse, zipwire, trampoline, football goals, netball hoop, games room with air hockey and arcade machine, cinema room
