Early August, we experienced the best Norfolk has to offer with Raynham Norfolk at their Wild Meadow Glamping site.
This was their soft launch and we were invited to test things before they officially opened the following weekend (now fully open!), we were to be filmed and photographed for their online sites and of course, take a few photos ourselves.
I will confess I was anxious about going anywhere other than the forced food shop gauntlet, so driving 3 hours away from home seemed huge but we couldn't have felt more safe.
There are just four yurts (next year they hope to expand), spaced out in the pretty meadow, each with their own BBQ area. We had our own designated shower and toilet, so no sharing and in the fully equipped camp kitchen we had our own clearly labelled cool box, utensils box and area to eat.
But before we go on to all the other wonderful facilities and options, let me take you on a little tour of our yurt - welcome to Forget Me Not…
Our yurt was sleek, stylish, modern and the height of luxury… from the linen (All White Linen - yes I do check these things!) to the hand woven blankets and cushion covers from Weaver Green - we did stay during the hottest days of the year, so although we didn’t get to wrap up and wander around the site in them, I loved this attention to detail.
The wood burner will be invaluable during colder nights, but as we had such good weather we didn’t need to use it but we did enjoy the charcoal from Norfolk Charcoal - ready to use in our upcycled BBQs (made from old tractor wheels) in just 15 minutes. So handy with hungry little ones, who don’t like to wait.
Little treats left from The Norfolk Cookie Company
If you want to see a little video tour of the yurt it’s on my Instagram Story Highlights
We were spoiled with such wonderful food throughout the weekend. Our breakfast hampers, curated by A Little Bit of Luxury included locally baked sourdough bread, Norfolk jam, tea and coffee as well as fresh produce of eggs, sausages, bacon and raspberries. You can arrange for these hampers to be delivered to your yurt during your stay or have them waiting for you when you arrive.
You can also arrange for BBQ packs as well as Raynham Beef to be delivered to you! You can choose what you’d like from the Wild Meadow Menu along with wine and Duration beer. All of which is supplied directly from Raynham Norfolk.
This makes things really easy, we had decided we didn’t want to venture out to eat so this was wonderful and reduced any anxiety about bringing enough food or having to go buy food. The BBQ packs were incredibly generous and the steaks were superb, we really enjoyed the luxury of BBQing each evening at ‘home’.
Did you know about Norfolk Wine? We very much enjoyed this one from Burn Valley Vineyard
There are several experiences you can book to enjoy during your stay, Katie from Wild Oak Workshops, came to teach a foraging and wreath making class. The children absolutely loved it, she brought a treasure trove of natural finds; feathers, nests, fossils, skulls and beautiful stones, that she happily allowed all the little hands to explore. She patiently answered the constant flow of questions before we went into the woods where they were encouraged to gather fallen leaves and sticks to make a bug hotel. Back in the kitchen area, wreaths of ivy adorned with feathers and dried lavender were created and perched on little heads.
Grown ups got to make a more curated version which with Katie’s help, it looked wildly beautiful and it, along with the children’s, are all proudly hanging around our home. This was such a highlight, my two love creating, making and being outside and Eden loves talking to anyone who will listen about fossils, stones and shells. Thank you Katie for being so kind about ALL the questions.
I loved that there were bikes for us to use, you can hire them from Wheel Travel, I haven’t cycled in so long so it was really fun to explore the meadow and it was great for quick trips from yurt to kitchen for forgotten things!
We also got to experience an impressive afternoon tea picnic, catered by The Norfolk Scone Company - now I unfortunately do not many photos because we were actually being filmed enjoying this treat for the Raynham Wild Meadow Glamping website. As soon as it’s available I will link to it so you can see the setting and the treats, but as well as a selection of scones, sweet and savoury, there were children’s sandwiches and fabulous grown up ones, like smoked salmon with dill cream cheese and brie and chilli jam (yum!), the lemon posset was delicious and the children favoured the generous chocolate brownies. We sat under a large shady tree, with Raynham Hall in the background and sweeping views in front of us.
It was also such an interesting experience being on the other side of the lens!
There is an outdoor cinema, which wasn’t quite ready for our stay but I bet it will be fantastic watching movies in this spot with freshly popped corn soaked in butter or drizzled with honey!
There is a big communal fire pit area, which was lit each evening and signaled it was time to roast marshmallows. It was a perfect ending to our luxuriously long, sunny days.
Raynham Wild Meadow Glamping is about 25 mins drive from Holkham or Wells Next The Sea and whilst we did visit the beach, I’m going to put that all in a separate post as this has got pretty long. I’ll end this by saying that the whole experience was wonderful, especially during the time of Covid-19, we loved the escape, we loved how safe it felt and I really appreciated that there was a hot shower and we had our own toilets! The yurt is truly luxurious and comfortable and I certainly fell in love with Norfolk and all the incredibly tasty, locally sourced food and drink. We WILL return and use Raynham Wild Meadow Glamping site as our base to explore Norfolk more thoroughly next time.
Thank you to Gemma, Tom and everyone for making our stay so special.
Useful Links
Raynham Norfolk Wild Meadow Glamping - or email bookings@raynham.co.uk
A Little Bit Of Luxury - breakfast hampers
Burn Valley Vineyard - Norfolk wine
Wild Oak Workshops - foraging / wreath making workshops
Wheel Travel - Cycle Hire
The Norfolk Scone Company - curated afternoon teas
please note, we were guests of Raynham Wild Meadow Glamping, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.