Luxury Accommodation in Suffolk

The Wilderness Reserve

The Wilderness Reserve is the epitome of luxury accommodation in Suffolk with visitors from the like’s of Hugo and Millie Taylor from Made in Chelsea and comedian Jack Whitehall. The Wilderness Reserve is nestled into the east of Suffolk countryside near Yoxford, set in 8000 acres of private estate. It is the brainchild of property entrepreneur Jon Hunt, who turned to landscape architect Kim Wilkie to help transform the land into the idyllic country escape it is today.

Thanks to my parents we had the privilege of staying in The Garden Cottage one of the estates smaller properties. We originally booked to visit in 2021 but this was scuppered by the one household rule as we eased out of lockdown 2. So we moved it to 2022. Originally to celebrate my birthday in 2021 we now also celebrated my brother’s graduation this year so it was great to get the whole family away for this mini break.

The drive from Nottinghamshire was just under 3 hours so taking this into account it would have been nice to stay longer. Check in is not till 4pm and check out is 11am. My parents, brother and his partner arrived before the clan and myself so had already started getting dinner ready when we arrived. We were greeted by a stunning Victoria Sponge Cake and some chocolate.

The cottage was immaculate and beautifully furnished. The kids were obsessed with their bedroom and all wanted to be on the very top bunk bed. Two of the double bedrooms had freestanding bathtubs, which were lovely after a day full of activities. Our first evening we took advantage of the BBQ and my mum made homemade tomato soup we stayed outside with the fire until it was just a bit too cold. Once the kids were in bed, the adult’s settled in for an evening of Sherlock Holmes board games and wine.

I woke stupidly early as I normally do when on holidays; the kids were still asleep after their long day. I took the opportunity to drag john out of bed to get a drone shot while everything was quiet. It didn’t take long for the kids to wake up bouncing and ready to go before we knew it, it was 7:30 so my mum decided it was time to make pastries’ for breakfast with the kids, which they were ecstatic about. With everyone fed it was time to walk around the estate with the dog, John and myself then set up a scavenger hunt for the kids, which is a lot harder then you think but everyone enjoyed it.

Lunchtime then hit and time to chill for a bit, we made sure we had brought the switches, as we knew there would be hell to pay. John and myself took this opportunity to go off on the pashley bikes around the estate and have a quick sail in the rowboat on the lake. I would definitely recommend an organised activity if you are in a very large group of adults, as there was only 6 of us it wouldn’t of been cost effective but the free activities were more than enough in the time we had.

For dinner we cooked a simple meatballs and spaghetti for the kids and set them up with a lovely film night with all the treats. For the adults we took advantage of the reserves homemade meals, you can do this two ways for £50 per adult you can have a chef come to your property and cook your pre ordered dishes. For £35 per adult they will cook your chosen dishes and deliver them ready to be pre heated when you want to eat, we chose this option and it was honestly so delicious the food was Michelin star quality and we didn’t even leave our property.

To end our evening we had our own film night and even put the fire on. It had been a long day so I also took some time out in our freestanding bathtub and called it a night. The following morning I took one last walk with Nala around the estate and we packed up the cars and checked out. Instead of going straight home we went to Southwold to take in the sea air with fish and chips. It was such a lovely break, we were completely away from reality and got to spend some quality time together as a family. I hope we get the opportunity to visit The Wilderness reserve again soon and maybe even use it for a Wedding venue but we will see about that one.