Marston Park has considerable panache for a campsite, with glitter balls hung in its lakeside powder rooms, invitations to life drawing classes and acoustic guitars in every bell tent. Even the ducks – who waddle up to the bar – are sassier than most.
Located in Somerset, on a country estate between Bruton and Frome, this glamping site is aimed at creatives and opened for the first time this summer. Between the trees lives a pastel green UFO, an iconic piece of 1960s design and a portable holiday home of which there are only 68 left in the world, most of which are in museums. With a hatch that pops out to reveal entrance steps, guests looking for an otherworldly stay (at £1,200 a night) will geek out over Futuro’s portholes and pod-like chairs that slide out to become beds. Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor shot a music video here last month.
The park’s lakeside setting is magical and used to its full potential, with an arc of pristine bell tents gracing one reed-lined shore and a jetty, with a large fire pit, stretching out from the other. Having checked in with the receptionist and carted your luggage to the tent, it only takes a few minutes of watching coots splash about and the bar’s lights twinkle from across the shore to enter a more relaxed frame of mind.
Then the fun begins. Pad down soft, woodchip paths, past bursts of purple rhododendron, to find canopied event spaces and a festival-like atmosphere in the woods. The Glade is an open-sided teepee in a clearing where toddlers in fancy dress belt out rhymes during weekly “singaling” sessions. Further up, beside the lake, the Hideout is another tent area staging activities such as yoga, mindfulness, solstice gonging, willow-weaving, basket-making, calligraphy, life drawing and nature painting classes.
Not that guests need to wait for instruction – keen artists can set to work as soon as they arrive, with oil paint sets and easels ready and waiting in each tent. Guests can also look forward to proper beds, with soft, white linen to sink into, ethnic rugs and a wood burner well-stocked with natural firelighters, logs and kindling, to ward off any chills. This is in addition to a private fire pit outside each tent, beside the lake.
Luxury Bramley toiletries are available in tents and in the rustic-chic washrooms, which feature Victorian-style brass fittings and are open to just the right amount of breeze to feel “at-one-with the elements” but not overexposed. The larger powder room has space for a gang of friends to get ready together, beside vintage mirrors, dried grass arrangements and assorted lamps.
Over at the bar, picnic tables have storm lanterns and piles of sherpa blankets, while decks play a constant soundtrack of hipster tunes. A converted horsebox sells beer, wine, local cider and coffee. At the other end is a pizza oven and a trailer that has been converted into a tiny kitchen. Don’t be put off by its size, the food coming out of it is quite remarkable.
Chef Gareth Oakes is an amiable chap who has worked at some great restaurants – including Bath’s Michelin-starred Olive Tree – and is committed to making spirited, fresh-air food. The best menus are saved for the weekend, when Gareth might get excited about roasting a whole lamb, Argentinian-style, alongside mackerel and sourdough. At other times there could be bao buns crammed with Wiltshire’s finest short rib, Lyonnaise onions and a mushroom XO sauce, or tiger prawns in brown butter with an intense bisque mayo. “Carb-heavy food for drinkers,” he grins, but it’s more than that.
Lakeside breakfasts are glorious, starting with Bircher muesli topped with apple shreds and almonds, before moving on to a veggie grill with sweetcorn hash perhaps, or poached eggs and guacamole with peanut oil and chilli.
Some of the plans at Marston Park are a work in progress. The team wants to ultimately restore the Victorian boathouse at the far end of the lake and introduce rowing boats. A spa area will be open by the summer holidays, featuring a natural plunge pool and a second wood-fired hot tub, with one available already. An art gallery is on the way, with a shipping container housing assorted works arriving in time for July.
Music-wise, various DJs are booked to stay over the summer – keep an eye on Marston Park’s Instagram feed for details of live gigs and for another drop of tickets to the Pikes weekenders, when Ibiza’s famed Pikes hotel is setting up camp. Larger “suite” tents are being erected that are better suited to families and groups, and there are plans to use Futuro as a cocktail bar for vinyl nights, or one-off film screenings. In a summer when music and arts festivals are struggling with Covid restrictions, Marston Park offers a fine opportunity to meet friends and get creative outdoors.