“I'm sitting by a log fire as the sun sets, a glass of something chilled in my hand. In the wild grass meadow in front of my tent, my children are feeding grass and clover to long haired, extravagantly horned cattle. This whole 'glamping' experience could be a Disney film set styled by Cath Kidston. I'll be sleeping on crisp cotton sheets, brewing up breakfast on a wood fired burner, reading the papers on a genuine porcelain loo. All this in the grounds of a beautiful hidden country gem, the tallest Tudor tower in England.

Country House Hideouts are the same people who brought you Featherdown Farms and they have perfected the ultimate in tented luxury. There's an honesty shop on your doorstep that can furnish anything from a box of matches to a full English breakfast. In the evening, we had the choice of a warm shower from a pierced bucket or a hot tub fired up from logs we'd lit at breakfast. Camping in my youth meant the smell of old trainers in confined spaces and an all-pervading sense of damp. These days, I have to accept I'm stepping down a rung by going
back home.”