Glamping · Chalford
Westley Farm
A 70-acre hill farm at the head of the Golden Valley above Chalford, with six off-grid yurts and cabins in its ancient woodland and three stone cottages, all dog-friendly.
Dog-friendly · Family-friendly · Walker-friendly · Hot tubs · Car-free
Real seclusion: yurts and cabins each in their own woodland dell, and stone cottages in the meadows, at the end of a long farm drive with no road noise. It suits couples and families with dogs, and it is one of the few Cotswold stays you can reach well by train and bus.
- Good: Every yurt and cabin has its own wood-fired hot tub and kitchen; no shared facilities
- Good: All nine places to stay take dogs (£25 a dog a stay)
- Good: Good Journey Mark: £20 back if you arrive by train
- Worth knowing: Glamping April to October only, two nights at least
- Worth knowing: Cottage arrivals on Mondays or Fridays
- Worth knowing: A 20-minute walk across the fields to the nearest pub, the Crown at Frampton Mansell
About
Westley Farm is a 70-acre hill farm on Cowcombe Hill, off the A419 between Chalford and Frampton Mansell, at the head of the Golden Valley. It is reached by a long winding drive, and works with Natural England, the Butterfly Conservation Trust and Back from the Brink on habitat for butterflies, so that the rare marsh fritillary can breed on the farm. Donkeys, sheep and ponies graze the meadows.
From April to October there are six off-grid glamping sites in the farm's ancient woodland: three yurts for two adults and two children and three cabins for couples, each in its own dell with a wood-fired hot tub, kitchen, barbecue and fire pit. The Sapperton Yurt has a roll-top bath in an old horsebox. Most run on the farm's solar power.
Three stone cottages, converted from farm buildings, are let all year: Jackdaw and Cockshutt sleep four and Hornstone sleeps seven, with flagstone floors, wood burners or open fires and private gardens. The cottages have two or three bedrooms (Hornstone has three, each with its own bathroom), free Wi-Fi, central heating and a starter basket of logs. In the farmyard the Cart Shed is an honesty shop selling eggs, produce and barbecue and breakfast basics in season, and a cot and high chair can be borrowed. Hampers can be ordered ahead, and the farm holds the Good Journey Mark, refunding £20 to guests who come by train.
The details
- Rooms
- 9
- Check-in
- From 4pm
- Check-out
- By 10am
- Minimum stay
- Glamping two nights; cottages arrive Monday or Friday (Sawday's lists Cockshutt and Hornstone at three nights at least).
- Features
- Views · Garden or terrace · Parking · Wi-Fi · Open fire
- Parking
- Beside each cottage, and a separate car park for the glamping sites.
- Without a car
- Kemble and Stroud stations are ten minutes' drive; from Stroud the 54 bus stops for the farm.
Photos
A cottage deck with a wood-fired hot tub 
The Sapperton Yurt in its glade 
A yurt's wood-fired hot tub 
Inside Sapperton Yurt
Location
Nearby walks, places and things to do
- Cotswold Gliding Club 0.9 km away
- Lavender Bakehouse and Coffee Shop 1.1 km away
- The Crown Inn, Frampton Mansell 1.5 km away
- Burnt Ash Farm 1.7 km away
Sights nearby
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Toadsmoor Mill
Sight · Historic building · Stroud and the Five Valleys
Toadsmoor Mill is an early nineteenth-century mill of dressed limestone in the wooded Toadsmoor valley east of Stroud, once a cloth mill known as Upper Toadsmoor Mill, its upper door reached by a timber bridge from the bank. Grade II; now partly a house, seen from the footpath.
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The Long Stone, Minchinhampton
Sight · Hill fort or barrow · Minchinhampton
The Long Stone is a prehistoric standing stone in farmland south-east of Minchinhampton: a slab of oolite 2.1m high, pierced by holes that give it its local name, the Holey Stone. Tradition says children were passed through them as a cure for rickets. A scheduled monument.
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Market House, Minchinhampton
Sight · Historic building · Minchinhampton
Minchinhampton's Market House was built in 1698 by the lord of the manor, Philip Sheppard, for the wool and yarn trade: an open arcade on stone piers with a hall above. Listed Grade II*, it still holds a country market on Wednesday mornings.
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Holy Trinity Church, Minchinhampton
Sight · Church · Minchinhampton
Holy Trinity is Minchinhampton's Grade I parish church, known for its fourteenth-century tower whose spire was cut short in 1563 and crowned with a stone coronet, a south transept lit by a great rose window, and the grave of the astronomer James Bradley.