Suffolk Holiday Cottages are perfect for Wellness Holidays
Don’t just book a holiday in Suffolk… book a ‘Wellness Holiday’ in the heart of Suffolk!
If you’re looking for a relaxing and refreshing break, then our luxury Suffolk holiday cottages are perfect. With many people having taken a ‘wellness holiday’ in recent years it’s no surprise that over half the population wants to go on one too!
We do everything we can to make staying at Woodfarm as hassle-free as possible, from the moment you book to when you leave us to return home, we want your stay to be as relaxing as possible.
Book your Suffolk Holiday Cottage directly
33% of trips were booked through an accommodation provider like us, which has shown a growing trend of booking your holiday directly. I think one of the main advantages we have is that we are a little independent so you can go straight to the horse’s mouth to get answers to any questions you may have. And as I built these Suffolk Holiday Cottages with my own fair hands I may just have the answers for you!
We’ve got the Top 3 covered on your Suffolk cottage holiday
The top 3 activities undertaken on trips were:
1) Relaxing (29%)
2) Sightseeing on foot (26%)
3) Short walks/strolls (20%)
These are definitely amongst the main reasons that we see week in, week out amongst our guests. It’s why I built the place!
If you’d like some more info on the above, feel free to check out some more info on the Visit England website. We just happen to have their Gold Award for all seven of our luxury holiday cottages.
Authentic holiday experiences
People across all age groups are looking for more authentic holiday experiences with the chance to enjoy hidden gems alongside traditional tourist attractions. This is according to ABTA on their blog post.
As you’ll know if you spend any time looking around this website or our dedicated Suffolk Holiday website ‘Where Do We?…’ you’ll see that a huge focus of our holiday cottage business is to provide you with lots of details of local places to visit.
Why choose a UK Holiday at home, or ‘Staycation’?
According to 2015 research by BDRC Continental, ‘Less hassle to organise’ was the most popular reason given for choosing a UK holiday over a holiday overseas, not cost. For the ‘staycation’ market it is important that it’s easy to stay at home. I think there’s something very comforting about being familiar with our surroundings whilst being far enough away from home to feel like we are on holiday.
Our Suffolk holiday cottages are popular with holidaymakers from across the UK. You can drive five hours to get to us but it’s still easier than queueing at airports, ferry terminals etc. By far and away, most of our guests come from within an hour and a half to two hours away. The other advantage of course is that there is no weight limit on luggage in your car. As long as your car can take it of course!
Easy rail and road links from London and the home counties to our Suffolk holiday cottages
We are a stone’s throw from London by train too! Needham Market and Stowmarket stations are just 90 minutes’ journey and then it’s a tenner by cab to get here. When you are here we have bikes to get out and about, enjoying the rural Suffolk countryside.
If you’re driving then it couldn’t be easier. We are less than a mile off the A1120 ‘The Suffolk Tourist Route’, which itself links the A14, the A140 and the A12, making our little slice of the heart of Suffolk so accessible.
Wellness Holidays “because you’re worth it”
Wellness tourism is growing twice as fast as tourism generally!
40% of Britons have taken a wellness holiday with younger people overwhelmingly most likely to do so. The UK coast is regarded as the most suitable setting for a UK wellness holiday, providing an opportunity to rejuvenate struggling coastal towns. Situated just half an hour from the beautiful Suffolk ‘Heritage Coast’, our holiday cottages are ideally positioned to allow access to wellness ‘offers’ both on the coast but also combining your break with some of the other wonderful tourist attractions further inland.
Wellness breaks at our Suffolk holiday cottages
Wellness includes health-enhancing activity, not just spa and body treatments. Local and responsibly sourced food, knowledge of the local countryside and provision for bicycles is a must. And guess what? We have all this on hand for you.
We bring you details of local farm shops, deli’s and coffee shops, as well as restaurant sourcing and serving local produce and we are smack bang in the middle of the rural heart of Suffolk. We are surrounded by beautiful, unspoilt Suffolk countryside so you can take a walk or a bike ride down the lanes around us, breathe in the fresh country air and just soak in the natural environment that is our little slice of Suffolk.
Clear blue skies by day and stars a-plenty by night as we don’t have any light pollution around us here.
The natural environment
69% of motivations for holidays in the UK are the natural environment and we are surrounded by it! Fresh air, clear skies, country lanes, open fields and farmland and an abundance of wildlife are right on your doorstep when you’re holidaying at our cottages.
Wellness holidays also tend to be more of a short break holiday and as we offer breaks from as ‘short’ as a two-night weekend on Friday and Saturday nights, it’s the ideal opportunity to treat yourselves to a quick escape from the norm.
Hot tub holiday cottage
We installed a luxurious hot tub on the patio of Deben Barn in order to see what demand was like. So far, indications are very good so the plan is for more in some of the other holiday cottages. Bookings for Deben Barn have gone mad and we have very little availability between now (July 2015) and the Autumn. The real test will be for me to see what effect it has on winter bookings. We are open 365 days a year and we do attract holidaymakers all year round. I’m optimistic for a busy winter with the hot tub.
This luxury hot tub has 30 jets to massage your muscles and is for four people; so in a barn that sleeps two, it’s clearly a real bonus for a relaxing wellness break!
Pampering – because you’re really worth it!
Another of our great local Suffolk ‘partners’ is The Beauty Barn. If you would like some pampering then you only have to pop round the corner to The Beauty Barn. It’s a real countryside alternative to stuffy modern hotels or spas as Debbie and her team will come to you! Yep, they offer their services in your holiday cottage so you really can relax and let the pampering come to you! They have put together some great ideas exclusively for our guests – take a look.
Cycling in Suffolk on your holiday
Ever since the 2012 Olympics, cycling seems to have enjoyed a resurgence and we’ve certainly seen it amongst our Suffolk Holiday Cottages guests. Having been here throughout that period we saw a much emptier bike shed that Summer I can tell you!
There are some great cycling routes in Suffolk, many in Mid-Suffolk, including one called ‘The Gosbeck Route’, which goes right past our door. Literally! It’s a 15 miler either turning left or right out of here. It takes around an hour and a half, depending upon you of course!
It can be busy on the A1120 being the main tourist route. Challenging with numerous undulations including Stonewell Hill, nothing severe. Anticlockwise is best. Easy reach of A14 and A140.
Other Suffolk cycling routes
Newmarket Rides (Moulton) – 8.0 miles long, the route goes past chalk valleys, ancient woodland, seasonal streams and thatched cottages.
Alton Water Cycle Track (Holbrook) – 8.5 miles long, see the sights of the reservoir and wildlife, woodland ponds and bird hide.
Thetford Forest Park (Brandon) – 10 miles long, with something for everyone from beginners to experts.
The Brewery Tour – 13.0 miles long from Bungay to Homersfield past St Peter’s Brewery, Batemans Barn and Homersfield Bridge.
Cycle South Suffolk (Lavenham) – 21.3 miles, this goes through some of the prettiest countryside in Suffolk. Designed for leisure cyclists and is made up of six circular routes of varying lengths.
Miller’s Trail (Ixworth) – 23.0 miles starting from the ancient village of Ixworth through the agricultural landscape of Suffolk, where windmills and watermills have been there for hundreds of years. Explore nature reserves and historic churches.
You can check out these and other routes on the Discover Suffolk website.
Holidaying in Suffolk for the foodies…
One of our main Suffolk ‘partners’ is The Deli at The Chilli Farm – just ten minutes up the road from us. Ok, we may have stretched the true meaning of ‘wellness’ a little as there are some, shall we say, less healthy goodies in there if wellness means you enjoying yourselves a little too, as I know our guests do, these could be the ideal treat for you to combine with some fresh air, cycling and walking! Think of it as ‘wellness of the mind’. They have put together some lovely Suffolk hamper options exclusively for our guests, priced at £25, £35 and £50. If you’d like full details of these check out the options on my separate post so you can decide which one you’d like to have waiting for you! They also supply our very popular hampers that we offer our guests for re-booking a follow up holiday within a week of leaving.
My favourite Suffolk restaurants nearest to our cottages
745pm – Serving possibly the best food I’ve ever had! Marketed as ‘Farmhouse fine dining’ it literally is just one man’s hobby. Carefully sourced local ingredients are the inspiration for most of David’s dishes and I’ve never tasted food like it! Hugely popular with our holiday cottage guests, it’s only open on a Friday and Saturday night at – you’ve guessed it – 7:45pm! Check out their website and do book well in advance as it gets full!
The Highwayman along the A140 – A grade II listed 17th-century timber-framed building that has been sympathetically extended. David & Olga took over the running of The Highwayman restaurant in October 2004 and warmly welcome everyone to sample the honest homecooked food. Olga uses as much local produce as possible in her kitchen. Have a look at their website.
Your local Breakfast basket gets your Suffolk cottage holiday off to a flying start
Every break at our Suffolk holiday cottages comes with a delicious breakfast basket to get your holiday in the heart of our beautiful county off to a flying start. We source as much produce as we can locally, using a range of suppliers.
We are delighted that our great local butcher, Neaves of Debenham supplies our delicious smoked bacon. They have lots of meat from locally reared livestock and we always get fabulous feedback from our holiday cottage guests when they’ve shopped for their BBQs and dinners there about the quality of the meat. Just as well as they are now supplying us BBQ packs to offer to guests too! More details on this to follow.
Fruits of Suffolk supply the jam and marmalade in our cottage breakfast baskets, using natural, local ingredients and it goes down a storm. We leave little sample jars with every stay and also stock a range of their products and gift baskets for guests to purchase. We sell these at cost as a service to enhance your holiday. I’d rather you took a little piece of Suffolk home with you than make a few pence on a jar of jam!
So, if you fancy booking your next Wellness break in one of our Suffolk Holiday Cottages, just choose your cottage and check availability.
