Five hundred acres of private farmland, a single-track lane through the Colne Valley, and at the end of it, a one-bedroom lodge with a hot tub on the deck. Brook Lodge sits on the Wakes Hall Estate in Wakes Colne, on the Essex-Suffolk border, one of five detached lodges spread across enough land that each one feels entirely its own.
Inside, the lodge is open-plan, with the kitchen, dining, and living space running into one vaulted room that opens through bi-fold doors onto the deck. The living area is spacious for a two-person lodge, with deep sofas, a tartan armchair, a wall-mounted TV, and enough floor space that a long weekend never feels cramped. The bedroom is a double, and the bathroom has a full-size standalone bath alongside a waterfall shower, with bathrobes hanging behind the door.
The hot tub sits on the timber deck, enclosed with lattice fencing for privacy and looking out over the woodland beyond. It is clean, well-maintained, and positioned so that a late-afternoon soak catches the last of the light through the trees.
The verandah wraps around three sides of the lodge, with recliners, a table for eating outside, and a brick barbecue. A gate at the edge opens onto steps down to the meadow and fields below. From the lodge, the estate stretches out in every direction, with a fishing lake stocked with carp and roach, woodland walks through the willow plantation where the trees are farmed to make cricket bats, and a footpath to the village. Three dogs are welcome, the verandah is enclosed and secure, and the walking starts at the door, so you rarely need the car.
Fresh bread, butter, cheese, tea, and coffee wait in a welcome hamper on the counter, enough to settle in before you need to think about shopping. A folder inside the lodge lists local restaurants, pubs, walking routes, and the takeaway menus for places that deliver.
Wakes Colne village is a short walk from the estate, with a shop, a post office, and a pub beside the River Colne that serves locally brewed beer. The East Anglian Railway Museum, a working collection covering a hundred years of railway engineering, sits at the edge of the village. Colchester, with its castle and the largest Norman keep in Europe, is about forty minutes by car, and Kentwell Hall in Long Melford is worth the half-hour drive into Suffolk for the gardens alone.
On a clear morning, with mist still sitting on the meadow and the coffee making its way through the machine, a two-night stay starts to feel like a miscalculation.
