Overview
Cocooned in the Cotswolds, Calcot & Spa is every inch the luxury experience your over-stimulated mind and exhausted body has been dreaming of. A unicorn amongst grown-up feeling getaways, this honey-hued haven is also cleverly geared towards tiny travellers. The Ofsted-registered Playbarn is legendary amongst parents – with 4 hours of free childcare per day of your stay. Acutely honing in on the needs of frazzled families, kids are happily whisked off into this Aladdin’s cave of activities, allowing mum & dad a couples workout in the cutting edge gym, or partners pampering sesh in the spa. Rested and ready to reconvene, the lavender-lined heated outdoor pool and woodland adventure playground allow for time spent together in unbelievably scenic surrounds. Sounds too good to be true? We haven’t even got to the best bit yet. Putting most other UK hotels (and their childcare age restrictions) to shame, Calcot & Spa welcomes tiny travellers into their supervised sessions from newborn. Baby monitors are also handed out at check in (or babysitters can be arranged) allowing for dreamy adults only dinners – children have the option of eating earlier, at special tea times from 5pm. Adjoining rooms ensure separate snoozing spaces, and outside of the school holidays, kids are invited to stay, play and eat for free on midweek nights!
Here’s what Calcot & Spa was actually like with early wakeups, little legs and children who never stop moving. Read our first-hand family review here
Mama
Get in touch
Nearest station
The nearest train station is Kemble Train Station, around a 20 minute drive away
Best time to visit
An all season staycation, we’d visit Calcot & Spa every month if we could. Summer means the chance to swim in the heated outdoor pool, try your hand at tennis, boules and croquet, or cruise (coat free) around the grounds on borrowed bicycles – don’t worry, these include trailers for little legs, too. As much as we love the warmer weather, Calcot & Spa’s fireside hot tub, freestanding baths and cosy corners really come into their own during the autumn and winter
Favourite room
Parents will feel most at home in the Generous Family Suites, complete with laid-back lounges, two bedrooms and spacious bathrooms. Going above and beyond the usual cot, these suites have in-room listening devices plus baby video monitors available on request, Bramley ‘Little B’ products, bottle warmers and sterislisers, changing mats, nappy bins, Tonies story boxes and smart TVs with Sky Entertainment
Nearby
Slap bang in the middle of the storybook Cotswold countryside, families are spoilt for choice with day out ideas in this neck of the woods – if you can drag yourself away from the hotel, that is. Westonbirt Arboretum, with its natural playgrounds, Gruffalo spotting trail and treetop adventures definitely shouldn’t be missed
Price
From £334 p/night in low season
Meet the family...
Manon
Parent to Tiny Traveller aged 2
The hotel is a beautiful, huge(!) Cotswolds manor with a very high end finish. There’s a large indoor pool with generous family swim times, as well as a heated outdoor one in the summer. Beyond swimming, there is just so much to keep children entertained. From the big wooden playground and outdoor kitchen to the nature walk and bikes to borrow. The real masterpiece though is the Playbarn, complete with all the toys & activities your little one could dream of!
Worth waking the baby for
01
Westonbirt Arboretum
Delve into the deep, dark wood at Westonbirt Arboretum, where mini explorers can track down the Gruffalo and friends. With endless paths and playgrounds, adults can press pause and enjoy their beautiful surroundings whilst storybook-loving smalls get their fill of fresh air and fiction
02
Tetbury
The private home of King Charles and Queen Camilla, chocolate-box Tetbury certainly has the royal stamp of approval. Steeped in history the picturesque highstreet has remained largely unchanged, looks wise, since the 17th century. Don’t miss the weekly markets on Wednesdays and Saturdays, or the modern addition of boutique shops and tasty restaurants to uncover
03
Newark Park
A former Tudor hunting lodge, National Trust property Newark Park is brimming with whimsy. Inside the house, guests are treated to eclectic exhibitions and a historically accurate dressing up box! Outside, there’s plenty of themed fun, with dragon treasure hunts, nature trails and fairy doors to spy
Reviews from other parents
While it may come as a surprise, considering my title as Tiny Travelship co-founder, I’ve never actually left my children in a Kids Club. Enter Calcot, with their epic Play Barn and for the first time IN MY LIFE I managed to dispatch my two sprogs. You get 4 hours free per night of your stay - and very handily you can also use this on the day you check in. We get asked a lot about setups for siblings, and the Play Barn is brilliant for this. There’s two floors - downstairs, is home to a myriad of toys for 0-8 year olds and upstairs ‘The Mez’ provides a chill out zone for those 8+ . Calcot is also beautifully set up for family time together as well. There’s a seasonal heated outdoor pool (May - October), family swim session in the indoor pool, an outdoor playground and super cute tepee jam packed full of toys. A special mention has to go to the food at Calcot - as it was sensational. Breakfast is included in the price of your stay, and children are treated to a High Tea at 5pm. We fed the kids and then brought them along with us to our dinner time - where the restaurant had a really welcoming vibe with a mix of adult-only diners and multi-gen families. If it’s still on the menu DO NOT sleep on the white chocolate & maple eclair…it’s life changing. We stayed in one of the generous family suite cottages. Our pooch was also with us, so we were in the dog friendly one. In previous experience ‘dog friendly’ rooms leave a lot to be desired, with hotels offering different decor for pawrents. This wasn’t the case at Calcot - our room was just as beautiful as the rest, and came complete with 2 bedrooms, a HUGE bathroom (with bath) and inbuilt listening service. The Calcot spa truly is a temple of tranquillity, with a myriad of treatments, relaxation rooms and the showstopping al fresco jacuzzi. As a gym bunny I also loved the super swish fitness space - which has classes on offer as well
@frankie1204 Tiny Travellers aged 3 & 1
