The devastation of having to cancel my UK staycation plans I had booked for my 27th birthday in November was definitely real but good old optimistic me decided to rearrange my Devon staycay for a week after the lockdown was planning to end and THANK GOD because it was just what I needed. I mean, I say that whenever I’m writing up about my stays at these UK escapes but after the year we’ve had, can you blame me? Now, you guys absolutely loved this stay when I shared it on my stories over on instagram, so I’m hoping this will convince you to take the plunge and book to stay because it was such a lovely few days off even with the sporadic rain.
Disclosure: When published, the retreat was in Tier 3 and therefore could not accept bookings for certain dates. Please make sure you check gov guidelines before booking. That being said, they were very flexible with moving dates should your booking need to be rearranged and this was very easy to do without losing any money, plus we ended up gaining a free hot tub session and bottle of prosecco so you’re in good hands.
The Shepherds Hut Retreat is in the heart of Somerset about 5 minutes away from Crewkerne. There’s currently 5 different shepherds hut within the retreat with their flagship ‘Shepherds Parlour’ (seen below) launching only a few months ago and it looks divine! I’m talking private hot tub and outdoor lounging – I’ve definitely got plans to go back and stay here next year.
Check availability for Shepherds Hut Retreat here
Images of Shepherds Parlour above taken from company website – Check availability here
Included in your stay at these huts is the following:
- Use of Hot Tub and Sauna (£10)
- Egyptian cotton bedding and towels
- Flowers
- Bottle of wine/cider
- Marshmallows
- Biscuits
- Tea/Coffee/Sugar
- Basket of wood
- BBQ
- DVD Player and DVDs
- DAB Radio
- Fully equipped kitchen (kettle, toaster, sink, fridge, oven and stove – no microwave)
- Comfy double bed
- Bathroom
- Dining Area
- Honesty shop for fire wood and bbqs
Images below are taken from company website, I’ve currently misplaced my camera (typical) but I can confirm it was exactly like this on arrival with storage under the bed
The benefits of having to rearrange our initial stay is that we got a complementary hot tub and a bottle of prosecco for our new dates which is always a welcomed treat. That being said, if you book and reference code JUTI20, they will kindly include a free hot tub session for you too! The huts were exactly as advertised, and I won’t lie, as much as I loved our last staycation (and I would definitely book there again) it was really nice to have a proper bathroom with a toilet and shower. As you can imagine the huts have been designed as holiday accommodation so they have everything you need for your stay including a very good selection of DVDs for the small tv in your room. I mean it’s no Netflix but there was really a film for whatever mood you’re in, plus the nostalgia of watching a DVD and seeing options like ‘screen selection’ before you hit play is honestly priceless.
The double bed was super comfy and just about fit my 6ft2 boyfriend at a diagonal so if that’s a worry for anyone, thats something to keep in mind. There’s an electric log burner which turns on at the flick of a switch and then you can adjust the temperature and power at the side – believe me it gets toasty.
For this stay I just wanted to spend time at the huts, no real need to explore super far so we just drove into the local town to pick up dinner and breakfast supplies from Lidl (plus my truffle goods) and other than that we only decided to leave for dinner as we fancied an Indian so headed into Crewkerne to Bengal Raj. What I will say is that there’s loads of local towns only a 5 minute drive away with supermarkets such as Lidl and Waitrose, so super easy to buy stock or find somewhere to walk and wonder. We mainly visited Crewkerne and Hinton St George, this gorgeously quaint town which is everything you pictured “countryside” to look like, plus the Lord Poulett Arms pub is super cute and was the perfect place to pick up lunch at the start of our trip.
Now what you all I’m sure are waiting for and what I was certainly there for, was the lakeside hot tub. Bookings for the hot tub can be made when you arrive so you can only imagine my stress (with the 3pm check in, 10am check out and fleeting daylight) when it was booked on a first come first serve with the slots being 4 hours – I needed the Thursday afternoon slot 12-4 for photos of course and should there be a nice sunset (which sadly there wasn’t) this would be the perfect time to enjoy. The tub takes about 15 minutes to fill, 2 hours to heat with logs and then you can enjoy it for another 2 hours or so (instructions are both by the hot tub, sent by email before and in the manual). I won’t lie, heating the tub wasn’t the easiest but luckily no one has booked before us so we started a couple of hours earlier but once heated it was truly glorious. You guys know me and I LOVE a bath so a bath outdoors by a lake with some fairy lights was truly delicious.
Don’t forget if you quote JUTI20 when booking you get your hot tub session (usually £10) for free
What I will say is time really does go slower in the tub, I sat in what felt like half an hour was only 15mins so we were out in about an hour starving and ready to get some dinner.
At £273 for two nights I honestly feel like it’s definitely one of the better value staycations out there especially as I feel like a lot of care has been taken into the design, decor and upkeep of the huts to not feel dated so I would happily pay that again.
Last time I checked they also had a good amount of availability as soon as Jan 2021 (sadly we’re in lockdown but decent availability nevertheless) so perfect if you aren’t willing to wait months for a trip. It’s also best to follow them on instagram and turn on notifications on their stories as due to the current circumstances they sometimes have last minute cancellations which they share on stories so you can swipe a sweet deal there.
Wear Juti Eats 