The House
We love the topsy-turvy living at Tickety-Boo – bedrooms downstairs, upstairs an enormous living/entertaining space. Interiors are cool and collected, merging seamlessly with centuries-old features like exposed stonework and hefty elm rafters.
Anyway, in you go, through the door to a wide hallway with table football. To the left are Bedrooms 1-3, to the right Bedrooms 4-6 (see Rooms).
The open-plan living/entertaining space is all open plan - colourful comfy seating to one end, at the other a pastel pink kitchen and bar, well designed and well equipped to perch up and sip mojitos, slice and dice and sizzle and stir. In the middle of the room there’s a long dining table; if you’re here to celebrate something special, dress it up, get in fine voice for a round of ‘Happy Birthday’. On our Extras page you’ll find tried and tested caterers to come and cook you a corker of a feast.
Outside, the private courtyard garden has all-weather grass, outdoor furniture, a gas barbecue and pizza oven, and even a resident cow. Have lunch in the sunshine, love the views over the fields; in the evening gather round the firepit beneath the lanterns, toast marshmallows, swap stories.
Across the courtyard is the games room, next to it the movie room/snug and to the rear, the icing on the cake – the pool room. The pool has a built-in swim spa and hot tub, at the end of the room there’s a sauna, and up above a long curved roof window means the treetops, the cottonwool clouds and the night skies are forever in your sights. Also this side of the courtyard is self-contained Bedroom 7, so if you like your own space, better baggsie this one.
Local Area
Fill your lungs with wholesome fresh air with a puff to the top of Cley Hill, stroll into the village for hearty homecooked pub food at The Three Horseshoes. If it’s springtime take a stroll around Black Dog Woods to see the bluebells, jump in the car and go for a spin, spotting the Wiltshire White Horses carved in the hillsides.
Have a day out at Longleat, just a few miles down the road; see the famous lions, rhinos and monkeys on a drive through the Safari Park, take a tour of the mansion house, have a barrel of laughs in the Square.
Large it round the lakes at Stourhead, see the follies and the ice house, have a look around the Palladian house, have a bite to eat in The Spread Eagle Inn. Arty types should go to Hauser & Wirth on the edge of Bruton, Harry Potter fans will like Lacock Abbey where they’ll recognise the cloisters at Hogwarts and the houses in the higgledy-piggledy village.
Make like a Georgian with a day in Bath, see The Royal Crescent and Pulteney Bridge, the Roman Baths and the glorious Bath Abbey. Stroll along the towpath of the Kennet & Avon canal at Bradford on Avon, hire kayaks, take a boat trip. Closer still, Frome is good, with a huge vintage scene and once a month, a very upbeat vibe with stalls, street food and live music when the Frome Independent market is on.
Wherever, whatever, Tickety-Boo will be your big happy; love the time together, love the memories.