Which feather down farm

The kids love going to feather down. Weather was not very good but kids absolutely had a fantastic time. Manor Farm is so beautiful and peaceful. Anna and Will well great at looking after us. Miss Murray rates Feather Down Manor Farm with a 10 We had a fab time - everything was great, from the comfy beds to the friendly welcome.

The weather wasn't great but it didn't really matter and Anna had some excellent suggestions on what we could do to keep our little boy entertained. As a parent I'm always concerned about how much time my children spend on screens so it was brilliant to see them having so much fun in the fresh air and never once asking for screen time.

James rates Feather Down Midgham Farm with a 10 A very pleasant break away from the trappings of life in a town. No better way to spend quality time with your family. Ibison rates Feather Down New Barn Farm with a 10 A lovely stay and we were glad to be blessed with sunshine for the whole weekend. Relaxing, comfortable, exciting, romantic, and very good fun. With this in mind, Lunsford Farm seemed like the perfect location, situated slap, bang between Hastings and Rye, perched on a hillside, overlooking the beautiful Kent coast.

From there it was just a short taxi ride to the farm, where Denise, the lovely manager of the Feather Down aspect of Lunsford was waiting to greet us and show us to our tent the pastoral side is looked after by the rather dashing Andrew whose family have been farming this glorious far-flung corner of the Romney Marsh for more than a hundred years.

Katie and Scarlett, made up time in the car, and arrived less than an hour later. The tent Arranged in a copse, and enjoying uninterrupted views out to sea, the four safari-style tents, or canvas lodges as they are known at Lunsford, manage to feel secluded and private, but with the option for being sociable should you so choose.

During our stay a multi generational family of ten were occupying two of the tents, while a couple with young children, who Denise informed us were regulars, were enjoying the other — we were all soon on speaking terms, while the neighbouring children teamed up with ours to formed a ragtag gang that became dirtier and more disheveled as the weekend progressed! Inside the tent, Katie and I were delighted to see the flushing loo, fully equipped kitchen, complete with sink and running water, cool chest and wood burning stove.

Better still were the gloriously comfy beds with proper mattresses the girls immediately bagsied the cute cupboard bed , overstuffed sofa and dining table and chairs. Despite all the mod cons, however, the tents have a wonderfully old-fashioned charm that immediately bowled us over. That evening, once the sun had set, and with just candles and oil lamps to guide us, we lit the barbecue and sat around chatting while our sausage supper slowly cooked.

The children meanwhile, had discovered the nearby playground, which kept them merrily occupied until dinner was served. Deposited in their beds, the children were quickly fast asleep, while us adults stayed up talking and supping, before retiring for a relatively early night ourselves. The next morning, we woke up bright and early and flung open the canvas flaps to discover a glorious day.

And night and real darkness is a shock to urbanites. Cooking, even with the help of Anna's Kitchen, took imagination, but it's these "hardships" that make staying in a Feather Down Farm such a worthwhile experience.

Basically, you're forced to relax into a slower pace of life, because there isn't any choice. When it takes an hour to make a cup of coffee, you appreciate drinking it all the more. Getting into this way of thinking at the beginning is a fairly tortuous process, especially when you wake up in a freezing tent and aren't able to flick on a radiator or have a bath.

But by the end you're more organised and try not to let the fire go out and, more importantly, you learn not to get so stressed about stupid things like the pasta taking an extra half hour to make. You also find yourself with more time on your hands, despite being busy keeping the fire stoked and endlessly hosing mud off the children. No computer means no email, no TV means no wasted half hours watching mindless home improvement shows and no telephone if you manage to turn off your mobile and Blackberry means no interruption from the outside world.

Being on a real working farm, the children get to go semi-feral for a while. And, for a slummy mummy, it's fun to wear the same clothes day after day, not put on make up - a rare break from Nappy Valley of the Dolls where immaculate mums push equally immaculate children around all day.

I stayed with my sister-in-law a first-time camper, who didn't find even the half-way house of a Feather Down experience the most relaxing holiday of her life , month-old son and his three male cousins aged seven to The children loved it, partly because the nanny state doesn't come into play here - if you're worried you might fall out of a tree, the ethos is not to go up there in the first place.

They climbed on to enormous combine harvesters, were chased across a field by llama, and the little one fell face first into a dung-filled puddle admittedly, he didn't like this bit much. The older boys churned up fields on hired bikes. Little girls in neighbouring tents made friends with the chickens and sheep housed in a pen in front of the tents and swung on rope swings. It was good old-fashioned fun.