Secreted in deepest Herefordshire on a one-and-a-bit acre garden ablaze with flowers (and featured on the cover of the Royal Horticultural Society magazine, no less), The Yurt at Midland Farm is so rurally perfect it might have leapt from the pages of a Thomas Hardy novella.
The name somewhat underplays what's on offer here. For as well as the spacious 19ft Mongolian yurt, guests are also spoiled with an adjacent shepherds hut housing their own private kitchen and bathroom facilities – all overlooking a field grazed by the resident ponies, Sam and Frodo, and back-dropped by a deliciously vocal rookery.
Inside the titular abode, the decor is as vibrant as the profusion of wildflowers in the surrounding gardens, bedecked in patchwork throws, lanterns and cheerful bunting festooned about the latticework. The gorgeous antique French double bed (as well as a pair of singles) offers the utmost in nighttime comfort, while the structure's felt lining keeps you cool in summer and, along with the wood-burning stove, warm on chilly nights. Twenty yards away you'll find your none-more-hospitable hosts Sarah and Charlie’s charming redbrick cottage where, of a morning, you can buy hens’ eggs here and freshly baked bread.
Beyond the canvas, Midland Farm is abuzz with wildlife. The carefully cultivated pond is a hub for frogs and newts, with dragon and damselflys zipping through the midsummer air and a local Heron making frequent visits. As dusk descends, the residents of the rookery are accompanied by hooting owls and the evensong of innumerable other birds passing to-and-fro from the nearby RSPB sanctuary at Letton Lakes.