REVIEW: Featherdown – our first glamping experience

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Our very first glamping trip yay 😁!! It was a really different experience for us but an experience we really enjoyed!

Featherdown has multiple locations, but we stayed at the one closest to us, which is Sunninglye Farm. Let’s get all the important info out the way!

Address.

Sunninglye Farm

Kent, Tunbridge Wells, TN3 9AG.

Price.

A 2-night stay in September starts from £252. The price all depends on dates, length of stay and what kind of lodge you will be staying in. It’s a good idea to play around with dates on the website.

Below you can see all that Sunninglye Farm has to offer.

Check-in and check out.

Check-in time is between 4 pm and 6 pm. Check out time is at 9 am. Please be aware that if you arrive later than 9 pm, the farmer is entitled to charge a £30 late arrival fee.

The glamping experience.

This is the closest one to us, which should take just over an hour to get to but traffic made it 2 hours which was very annoying. One thing I do have to say is that there needs to be better signage as we missed the entrance, even with all the details that were given in our information email. We did eventually find the entrance. A bit of warning that you should not be driving super fast around this part as we had a deer pop out in front of the car which was quite cool for little miss!

So yes, back to our arrival. We arrived and was met by Jo, who showed us where to park. We popped our luggage into wheelbarrows and pushed them to our lodge. Please note you cannot park by your lodge, but it’s not that far from the car park.

There’s lots of animal poop as little miss loved to point out 😆 for that reason make sure you bring some wellies or shoes you don’t mind messing up a little.

We really liked our accommodation. It was very different from what we’re used to, but it was home for the next three days. 

Some lodges have en suites. Ours did not, which meant we had to use the communal showers that are a short walk away which wasn’t a big deal! The showers were clean so no complaints from us. We did, however, have a toilet in our lodge.

What else did we have in the lodge?

• Kitchen unit with cold running tap water,
• cool chest
• three separate sleeping areas (1 double bed, 1 bunk bed, and 1 cupboard bed suitable for 2 children or 1 adult and 1 child)
• a dining table with chairs
• sofa
• wood-fired stove to cook on and use as heating,
• bedlinen
• a starter pack (candles, kitchen linen) and a crate of firewood per day for cooking and heating.
• picnic table
• 2 deck chairs
• barbecue

Extra charges

Child’s Cot – £8 each

Child’s high chair – £6 each

Pets – £5.50 per accommodation per night.

Food – if you don’t know how to cook now is the time to learn 😆 you’ll be cooking your own food!

There’s a microwave on-site, so if you’re not up for it, then you can always bring along some ready-made meals and pop them in the fridge. Please note you will be sharing this fridge with others so be mindful of the space you use.

The farm has an on-site honesty shop where you will be able to purchase your necessities. In the shop, you will find a clipboard with a form, on which you will write down the items you have purchased. At the end of your stay, you settle this bill.

What do you need to bring with you on a glamping trip?

• Portable charger – there is no electricity in the lodge, but you can charge your phone and other bits in the communal area.
• Bugs! If you’re like me and you hate bugs, then you’re going to want to bring some bug spray!
• Loo roll
• Matches
• Torches
• Warm clothes
• Hot water bottle
• Towels
• Waterproof clothes
• Wellies

The Miles family run this farm, and we met Jo and Jill, who were very helpful and answered all the questions we had. Jill took us on a farm walk on our second day and showed us the pond. There are several activities you can do on the farm which I will now talk about.

The children’s playground – small but fun! Any child would have a good time! There are also a few tyre swings around.

Campfire – you can make your own campfire, watch the sunset and roast marshmallows like us!

Build your own Raft on the Pond – Raft building will include enough materials to build a raft as well as paddles and lifejackets (price per family) £ 26.00 Each You can use the boats at the pond free of charge.

Crayfish fishing – one of our favourite activities on the farm. We caught a load of Crayfish with a few slices of bacon, some string and very long sticks.

Pony Pampering – Spend an hour with the ponies, grooming mucking out and learning basic stable management under the instruction of an experienced adult. £15.00 each.

You can check out the animals like the pigs, sheep, horse and the donkey too! We have had the chance to feed them which was really fun for little miss! We were lucky to go during a time where there were other families that had children around the same age, so little miss even made some new friends!

What’s nearby

Ashdown Forrest – a 15-minute drive from the farm. It’s home to real-life places from the Winnie The Pooh books. More info can be found here.

Groombridge – an 18-minute drive from the farm. We didn’t get the chance to go, but I’ve heard the children’s playground is gorgeous! More info can be found here.

Tesco superstore – a 13-minute drive from the farm. Good if you can’t find everything you need in the Honest Shop.

Sainsbury’s – a 15-minute drive from the farm.

Things to do in Kent

More ideas can be found at www.visitkent.co.uk/thingstodo

If you’re staying 3 nights like us, then I feel like there’s enough to do on the farm and you probably will not need to do anything outside it.

Would we go again?

Surprisingly I’m saying yes! I say this because I’m not a camper lol. I’m quite terrified of bugs and I do love a hotel stay, and this is significantly different, but we had a blast! It was nice to kind of switch off from the world and enjoy nature! I think we will try to do something like this at least once a year! I honestly have no complaints, and it was a very lovely experience!

Check out our Instagram highlight for more lovely pictures and videos of our trip.