Just for the weekend: Bruern Stable Cottages, The Cotswolds

Holidays with kids aren’t usually synonymous with luxury. How refreshing, then, to discover Bruern Stable Cottages, self-catering conversions that are cosy enough to relax in with children, but with grown-up interiors, products by The White Company in the bathrooms and a spa nestling in the grounds, next to the Wendy House. We arrive late on a Friday afternoon and our son makes for the swings, while the parents are more impressed with the welcome bottle of champagne in the fridge. 

Saturday morning and the toddler is so taken with the dressing-up box he’s found in the playroom, he barely notices when I leave for a two-hour treatment in the small but perfectly formed Phoenix Rose Spa. Sadie, the spa manager, swears by the Manuka Doctor bee venom products they’ve just introduced. After a massage so relaxing I drift off to sleep, I’m converted.

We head off to the nearby Cotswold Wildlife Park, where a petting zoo and miniature railway prove just as exciting for adults reliving their childhoods as for kids. Back at Bruern, we enjoy the homemade lasagne and sticky toffee pudding left in our freezer, before sinking into our four-poster bed.

We’ve happened on that rarest of things, a near-perfect family weekend.

For prices for a short break (Friday to Monday) and to book, go to bruern-holiday-cottages.co.uk