Friday
Arrive with the last light, ideally. Check-in is from 1 PM, but the house is at its best around six, when the brick goes copper and the pool lights come on. Drop the bags, walk the lawn, get in the water before dinner. Dinner is on the outdoor table if the weather allows, which it usually does. Then the fire.
Saturday
Someone will wake early because the birds insist. Coffee on the veranda, then either the farm walk or the lawn for yoga — it faces east, and the boulders change colour as the sun clears the trees. Breakfast is late and long. The middle of the day belongs to the pool, the hammocks and the board games. Lunch is the big meal. The afternoon disappears. Evening: bonfire, again, because nobody objected to the first one.
Sunday
Slow. A last swim, a breakfast that turns into brunch, a look at the sky to decide whether to leave at three or gamble on five. Check-out is 11 AM, but ask us — if the house is free that night, we're relaxed about it.
What people actually do
- Families: the pool, then the pool, then cricket, then the pool.
- Friends: long dinners, longer arguments over board games, stars.
- Teams: a working morning on the veranda, swim at lunch, the real conversations by the fire.
- Couples: the upper-floor room, the sunset, and not much else.
