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We have just returned from an incredible 5 night half term trip to Woodfarm Barns.  Lured to this perfect peaceful retreat by a Christmas offer and that was so worth it, as hubby doesn’t like champagne or chocolate so I didn’t have to share. It was also made more attractive by being less than an hours drive from our house compared to our last trek of 8 hours to Crieff Hydro. There are 7 luxury barns to chose from (and you can even bring your dogs) but as a family of five with an extra child for the first few days there was no question –  we would need the biggest one! So Woodfarm House for us it was, but with the other cottages , you could easily book the lot and have a big reunion of family or friends.

From the time we booked, Carl was on hand to help out by text and email with any queries and questions, and he was there on the day of arrival to give us a tour and information about the house the local area. The house was beautiful and decorated thoughtfully with a welcoming breakfast basket as well as the bonus 12 days of Christmas hamper! The kids soon got settled in choosing their rooms and there was excellent Wifi – hurrah!

A huge collection of DVDs made for excellent evening entertainment and we watched the box set of Indiana Jones during our stay as well as a few other classics. Our house had a table football game which caused riotous fun and noise from all the kids. Hopefully not so much to disturb our neighbours.

The surrounding area is beautiful and peaceful. Although fully booked, we never saw any of the other occupants. We went for several lovely walks along well marked footpaths and were able to use the bikes that were provided to go on some adventures, I was less enthused about this. Haven’t been on a bike for 20 years and the 2 miles I was reassured of, turned into 10 on both trips. There was a lot of screaming ” keep to the left” and I tried to suppress visions of all my children beeping wiped out by a lorry. We survived and the kids thought it was the best part of the trip. I still can’t sit down properly from the trauma.  Even James thought so,  who at one point refused to get back on his bike, but after much shouting was gently persuaded to get back on with bribery of lemonade and crisps.

We made one trip to Ipswich to spend the children’s Christmas money and boy had that place changed since my husband and I worked at that hospital, 14 years ago. Lovely shopping centre, easy parking  and lots of lovely little shops down winding lanes. One day of shopping was more than enough, being bankrupted by my daughter and having a big fight about her not purchasing an inappropriate cropped top in River Island. I won.

We ate out at various pubs during our stay. The Four Horseshoes in Eye was cosy and welcoming with lots of dogs.   The Angel in Debenham was quirky and sweet and the kids enjoyed trying to hit each other playing darts. My favourite though was The Highwayman just off the A140 which thankfully I persuaded Craig to drive to rather than kill us all by taking the bikes.   The owner was lovely and the seafood delicious.

Our breakfast hamper lasted the week and we will definitely be back to WoodFarm Barns. As a returning and loyal guest you get a fantastic thank you gift of a hamper or champers!   And there is even a referral scheme so if you fancy a trip to beautiful Suffolk after reading about our adventures please mention me, Ailsa Sheldon, as part of the Recommend a friend scheme!

NB: Thanks to Ailsa for sending in this post. Ailsa was not sponsored or in any way compensated for this post.