Talton Lodge

We also offer 1 day of free bike hire to anyone arriving by public transport. If you want to learn a new skill while you're with us then check out the courses we run.2014 is an exciting year for us as Talton House is becoming part of our business. After having been the Watson family home for 60 years, anyone will be able to hire the whole house for whatever gathering you may be planning. Click here for the Talton House website. It can easily fit a party of 18, or more including children. Talton Lodge can easily sleep 26, if your group is much more than that, you may consider hiring both Talton Lodge and House. Two very different venues side by side – one night you could spend in the giant tipi around a fire, the next dress up for dinner in the Hall at Talton House.The Set-upWe are a working small-holding with 20 acres of parkland, woodland, orchard and gardens. We aim to have accommodation and activities to suit all. You can either stay in the barn, tree house-boat and from 2013 a hut on wheels or between March and November under canvas in the yurts or tipi too.Most accommodation is within a large, beautiful Victorian kitchen garden where you will also find the cedar pavilion (with its kitchen, veranda bar and bathrooms) and the giant tipi with its fire, dining and seating areas. The kitchen Garden is a beautiful place to hold weddings and parties.The 18th Century Barn and Queen Anne Talton House provide extra space of a completely different kind and come into their own over the winter. They are also ideal for people in any group (including our frequent weddings) who fear canvas. The barn has a stereo, large bar area, kitchen, and an HD projector for a wet day cinema experience. We also equip the barn and giant tipi for meetings, training or team away-days.We can organise a wide range of activities on and off-site. On site there is gentle entertainment like wine tasting, snooker, massages, beauty therapy, story telling, music and a breath or two up from those; table tennis, pétanques/ boules, "Aunt Sally" or ceilidhs. For the food orientated there are cooking courses, pizza making in the wood fired oven and of course sausage making. We can arrange something more strenuous too like tugs of war, rounders, archery, canoe trips, bicycling, fishing, walks in the Cotswolds. We’ll even hire in a hot tub pre-heated by our wood-burning fire. If you don’t mind moving a little further away we can arrange cricket matches, camel trekking and hot air ballooning.Delicious food is central to what we offer, we produce as much as possible here and the rest is as local as possible.While you are here, you are welcome to wander around the small-holding and help feed the pigs and poultry.Heavenly HogsWe love pigs. They are clever, funny, idiosyncratic, affectionate, and most importantly have infinite uses in the kitchen. We keep rare-breeds as they are suited to being reared outdoors. They are hardy, good mothers, and although slower growing, the end product bears no resemblance to the flabby insipid pork that has made its home on our supermarket shelves; it's delicious.At the moment we have calm Berkshires and Gloucester Old Spots. Our old Saddlebacks were born in a prison farm in Redditch, and maybe because of their roots, they were a lot easier to look after than their Tamworth and Iron-age predecessors who were masterful escape artists. The pigs spend their whole lives outside in the woods and fields foraging and rooting for tasty morsels. From this top quality pork we make sausages, bacon and other porky treats, all of which you can sample during your stay. For groups of 10 or more people, we often slow roast pork shoulders for at least 12 hours or until the meat flakes off the bone.SleepingIn the walled kitchen gardenWe can accommodate groups in the Kitchen Garden. You can stay in either of:- Large Mongolian yurt 1 (a double and four singles)- A tree house-boat (3 singles or a double and a single)- Mongolian yurt 2 (4 singles or a double and 2 singles)- A North American tipi which has its own lovely secluded area and campfire (a double and 2 singles)- An orchard wagon for spring 2013 to replace our smaller tipi (under construction! A double and a single)So that’s 20 beds in 5 placesAll our accommodation is rain proof, with wood-burning stoves, proper beds, linen, towels, rugs, blankets and cushions. You can always request kids' cots/ extra beds. You can also gather in and use:- One sometimes 2 linked very big Scandinavian tipis. A great gathering spot for eating with sofas, tables, large bar, a stereo and a lovely big indoor central fire.- A cedar pavilion. You will find three loos, hot showers and a lovely covered balcony bar and a kitchen.In the barnOur converted 18th century barn has high ceilings and exposed beams. We retained much of what was already there (mangers for sinks, stable partitions for walls, bricks for the bar), and the rest is in keeping with what was there (reclaimed slate dairy shelves for the surfaces, and lime wash for the walls). But now it is cosy and well-equipped with its wood-burning stove, comfortable seating and beds, Tom Hammick tapestries, Wi-Fi, and an HD projector. Downstairs is an open-plan space with kitchen, bar, table large enough for 20, and sofa-bed. Although upstairs is also open plan, there is a screen to divide the space in two and the beds nestle in 5 niches made by the beams. There is one double and 4 singles, but 2 more singles fit in easily. There are also 2 toilets and a large free-standing bath from where you can see the swallows darting about in the unconverted part of the barn. If your group is big or we've dismantled the canvas, then you can also use the many bedrooms across the road at Talton House.