Staying at Mattingley Farm
All of our accommodation is rated as four star by the tourist board who inspect each property annually to ensure the quality is maintained and enhanced.
Whether you are in the stunning Blake's Barn or one of the beautiful Dairy Cottages, we aim to ensure you have the best possible holiday. If you want to enjoy the great outdoors or simply unwind from your stressful life, we can accommodate all types of vacation experience. Selecting from the menus above will give you full details about the three individual properties available, and this section will provide you with information about staying at the farm itself.
Visitors to Mattingley expecting a wild party atmosphere, with noisy nightclubs, amusement arcades and chip shops will be disappointed by the tranquility of the setting! The lack of traffic noise, and pitch darkness if there is no moonlight are a complete change for most of our guests and it usually takes a few days to acclimatise to the countryside. More details about Wellow and its surroundings can be found here.
As we have young children of our own, Mattingley is designed to be as child-friendly as possible. Once past the inner gates, there is no access to the road so children can run around the fields or ride on bicycles with a freedom seldom experienced elsewhere. With trees to climb, swings to play on and the devilish rope walk, there is no shortage of fun things to do outside. While we try to make play as safe as possible, Mattingley is not Disney so the odd tumble is just part of life on the farm and adult supervision is recommended at all times, especially in the playbarn with younger children.
If you're really lucky you may even get to drive the tractor or ride one of the horses. See the galleries for some pictures of the activities at Mattingley.
The farm extends over five acres and when last fully functional housed thousands of pigs. Nowadays, we keep lots of animals as pets (see here for more details) but the main business is tourism. There are only three units which gives a great atmosphere while preserving the quiet feel of the countryside. Although the address is Main Road and Wellow is located on a bus route, there is minimal traffic with more bikes and horses than motorised vehicles! Guests can park safely off road and easily store any bicycles or trailers within the farm. We may be able to introduce valet parking when Joe can reach the pedals, but no promises:
This shows the parking area in the front of the farm, with a 1924 Bentley owned by the previous occupant of Mattingley. There is ample parking for many vehicles, it is safe and away from the play areas.
Mattingley has a mature orchard containing over 20 apple, pear and plum trees. These are extremely productive and guests lucky enough to be around in Autumn can sample the array of fresh, chemical-free fruits on offer. You can simply pick your own! Also in the orchard is our pond. Re-excavated in the drought of 2006, it leaks like a sieve but luckily for the ducks, geese and wild waterfowl present holds enough water for a swim! The orchard is also home to our flock of completely free range chickens and turkeys who will usually provide guests with an egg or two, especially in return for some corn. A Mattingley egg tastes like nothing you get from your local supermarket but the chickens are definitely off the menu!
Three acres of Mattingley are devoted to the paddocks for our horses. Good quality grazing with careful paddock management ensures a plentiful supply of food for our three horses who generously provide us with an endless supply of organic fertiliser in return. Whilst we do not currently offer formal equine activities, guests of all ages are encouraged to interact with the horses and can usually have a ride in the paddock. We are also keen to encourage riders to bring their own horses to stay and indulge in the superb outriding available adjacent to Mattingley. Call us for more details if you're interested in equine holidays.
If you are after a less active holiday, why not enjoy the quiet grassed gardens or orchard with a good book and shady spot, perhaps sitting near Thorley Brook which bubbles gently along the perimeter of the farm? Since Mattingley ceased to be used as a pig farm, successive owners have enhanced the land and this is something we wish to continue. There is already a fantastic array of plants including hazel, walnut, figs, grapevines and more traditional garden flowers. Hopefully we'll get around to planting a vegetable garden at some point but in the meantime we are open to ideas from guests as to what to plant next. Indeed, Blake's Barn has it's own garden area and green-fingered guests have been known to do the odd bit of weeding or pruning! The main project for the winter will be clearing some overgrown areas for planting next year as well as maintaining the existing gardens and putting some of that fertiliser to good use. Never a dull moment!
