Ivy Grange Farm – beautiful new yurt site in Suffolk

So there I was, sat down in a gorgeous meadow beneath a cloudless cerulean sky. I peered over the plantains and ox-eye daisies to see sunlight exploding off the toothpaste-white domes of two yurts. It’s true what Rupert Brooke said, you know, there is some corner of an East Anglian field that is forever Mongolia.
 
Well, all right, a sort of lush north Suffolkian version of Mongolia, for the backdrop of trees and the constant tinkle of song coming from the warblers, tits and song thrushes did rather give the game away.
 
Opened just this month, Ivy Grange Farm (a smallholding with a lush seventeenth-century farmhouse) is Britain’s newest yurt site, and one that offers something a wee bit different. That much became abundantly clear on my first morning as I happily meandered the short distance through the meadow from my yurt to the woodland shower. No ‘stick a bag up in a tree and hope for the best’ arrangement this. Not only does it sport two lovely old school rose shower heads (so you can share the experience with your bathing mate of choice) and a willow fence for the maintenance of modesty, but the water is heated by solar panels discreetly positioned on a nearby barn. If the sun doesn’t play ball, an immersion heater automatically kicks in to make sure your water is kept at perfect showering temperature. Glory. And if that still seems a bit too Ray Mearsy for you, there are two sparkling new showers in the lovingly-converted barn (also home to the table football, table tennis, spotless loos, wet-weather cooking facilities, and gleaming washing-up sinks).
 
Set up for the day – there really is something special about showering to the calls of peacocks – I wandered back to my home from home. Ivy Grange Farm has two quite different yurts, both sitting atop their own generous platforms. The larger one is made and decorated by hand in Mongolia (so should properly be called a ‘ger’). The one I stayed in, however, was lovingly crafted in deepest Cornwall. It’s fitted out with a real double bed (oh yes, no futons here), a wood-burning stove (though the canvas and felt walls keep the yurt pretty snug anyway), a table and chairs, a smattering of tasteful furniture, a comfy chair that niftily converts into a single bed, and all the eating utensils and cooking equipment an outdoor chef might need. Oh, and Ivy Grange’s friendly owners Kim and Nick had topped it all off with a great big jug of flowers freshly cut from their own garden.
 
Keen to take advantage of the sunny weather (this being the driest region in the UK, cloud-free skies are quite a common occurrence), I jumped on my bicycle and headed off to explore the region. Brilliantly, Sustrans’ National Cycle Route No. 1 (from Dover to the Shetlands, if you’re wondering) runs right past the front gate, and guests without bikes can borrow one from Kim and Nick. Aldeburgh, Bungay, the Norfolk Broads and the amazing RSPB reserve at Minsmere are all within pedalling reach, but I took in the brand new Beccles to Southwold cycle route – 13 very flat miles (the lack of hills hereabouts makes it a fair-weather cyclist’s dream) along back roads that skirted farms to pass through the occasional hamlet before reaching Southwold and its lovely late-Victorian pier.
 
Each evening I was landed with a terrible dilemma: should I do my al fresco cooking on the gas stove or the brick-built barbecue? Or should I go the whole hog: foraging wood from one of the meadow’s small copses and whipping up something scrummy over an open fire? As for food, Kim and Nick have supplied guests with their very own veg patches. It’s all part of their drive to make Ivy Grange as sustainable as possible, but it also means I had the joy of getting my meal from the ground to the pot in the time it took me to wash and prepare it. I duly harvested chives, coriander, two types of rocket, mint, new potatoes and, from a venerable trough at the end of the meadow, oodles of succulent strawberries. (If you go now, veggies include salad potatoes, broad beans, radishes and shallots, with sweetcorn and lots more coming on tap in August.)
 
My dinner cooked, the wine poured, I sat down at a living willow table made by Nick and watched the sun setting over the fields. If everyday life is anything like this in Mongolia, they’re the luckiest people on the planet.

Info
Ivy Grange Farm
Butts Road, Westhall,
 Halesworth, Suffolk 
IP19 8RN
Tel: 07802 456087
E-mail: info@ivygrangefarm.co.uk
Web: www.ivygrangefarm.co.uk
 
Open: July to September (next year Easter to October)
The damage: Yurts (each sleeps 3) from £390 per week. There’s a 5% discount for guests arriving by bicycle or public transport.
No dogs.
Other on-site facilities: a bike store and wifi
Off-site: There’s a generous scattering of gastro (and non-gastro) pubs within six miles of the site.
For basic groceries and local produce, try Tony’s Stores, a mile away in Westhall village. Eggs and veg are available at the roadside at many farms and houses in the area. Halesworth (3 miles), has a wide selection of independent shops and a large Co-op.
Getting there: The nearest train station is Brampton (2.2 miles) – Kim and Nick can pick you up from there if given advance notice.