UK glamping hotspot where you can enjoy breathtaking views from a vintage cheese vat turned hot tub
The Pad
Tucked away in a secluded five-acre field just six minutes' drive from the pretty market town of Castle Cary, you'll find Hadspen Glamping and three off-grid safari lodges.
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Each comes with a wood-fired stove, well-equipped kitchen and Faith In Nature toiletries in the rain shower.
Even better, on the decking of Horscombe Lodge, there's a copper wood-fired hot tub – repurposed from an antique cheese vat – to lie back and watch the cows and sheep grazing across the peaceful valley from.
The beds are super-comfortable and there's a cupboard packed with games.
Order a Full English Breakfast Hamper, £30, stuffed with local goodies, including eggs, sausages, bacon, black pudding, mushrooms, beans and tomatoes, for the best wake-up treat.
Explore
Pop into Castle Cary to see historic buildings, including an 18th-century 'Roundhouse' and the thatched George Hotel.
Time your visit for a Tuesday to catch the weekly food market on the cobbles in front of the 19th-century Market House.
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Meanwhile, Bath 's famous Roman Baths are 50 minutes away by car – marvel at the ruins and get spellbound by the ancient curses written by wronged locals to the spa's Roman goddess.
Adult entry costs from £28, kids over six, from £21 (Romanbaths.co.uk).
Afterwards, head round the corner to Sally Lunn 's Historic Eating House & Museum to sample the eponymous bun, £4.20 – named after the baker who lived in the city 350 years ago.
Don't forget to pop downstairs to see the perfectly preserved 15th-century kitchen cellar, too (Sallylunns.co.uk).
Longleat Safari Park is fun for the whole family and about half an hour away – brave the monkeys leaping on to your car and let the koalas steal your heart.
Inside luxury dog-friendly glamping pod with wild Scottish spa and its own fairy pools
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Kids will also shriek with delight at the brilliant adventure playground.
Adult entry costs from £44.95, kids over three from £33.70 (Longleat.co.uk).
If it's on your way home, be sure to swing by Stonehenge to learn what life would have been like in Neolithic times.
Adult entry costs from £30.90, kids over five from £20 (English-heritage.org.uk).
Refuel
In Bath, head to The Bird for incredible views across Bath Abbey – the roast rump of Somerset beef, £22, is an absolute treat, while the Cointreau and orange tiramisu, £16 to share, is utterly moreish (Thebirdbath.co.uk).
At the 600-year-old Swan Hotel in Wells, expect the most tender sirloin steak, £30, and an affogato that's a work of art, £10 (Swanhotelwells.co.uk).
Closer to your pitch, call into The Creamery, a cafe and working creamery at Castle Cary station.
Its Estate Buffalo Smash Burger with house slaw, £15, is delicious, as is the honey and milk gelato, £6 (Thenewtinsomerset.com/thecreamery).
Book It
Stays for four at Hadspen Glamping cost from £200 per night (Towanderuk.co.uk/hadspen-glamping).
Pack It
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I arrived in Padstow at 9am on a drizzly Monday and wondered if I had put the wrong town into Google Maps. The car park was empty except for a few vehicles and there was barely another person in sight. Just as I was about to double check my location I saw a man's face – round, warm, personable – grinning at me through my raindrop-peppered windscreen. That man was Rick Stein, and his face was plastered on various cookbooks in the window display of Stein's Deli. To the left was Stein's Fish and Chips. To the left of that, Stein's Cookery School. Along from that, Stein's Seafood Bar and Fishmonger's. I was either in Padstow, or in the deep end of a fever dream about a septuagenarian chef. It was 50 years ago that Rick and his then-wife Jill opened The Seafood Restaurant in Padstow (the pair divorced in 2007, but remain business partners and co-owners). 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The Steins also own a pub, The Cornish Arms, not far from here. It is no surprise, really, that Rick has been accused of 'colonising' the town and that Padstow has developed the nickname 'Padstein'. But the locals, I soon learnt, are pushing back against the moniker. The 'Padstein' pushback 'It's not Padstein, it's Padstow,' said one woman, not best pleased about how the media has portrayed the town over the years. 'It was before they came, and it will be if they go bankrupt.' 'It's only called that by bloody idiots,' said Derek Lindsey, who has lived in Padstow his whole life and now chairs the town's well-stocked museum. 'But you look at all the staff he's employed. All the fishermen that come in, selling lobsters and crab. And he pays top price. I can only praise the guy.' Before heading home, I popped into Ben's Crib Box Cafe, a little cabin on the far end of town, not far from Stein's chippy. Allison McNeill, who works at the cafe and moved here in the early 1980s, reflects on how the town has changed. 'There are more people, more tourists. It's more built up. There wasn't a Tesco before, so it was more butchers, bakers, a bank, and you knew those people,' she said. 'It's too busy, so I'd probably give the town a miss this time of year,' she added, echoing Jill's words earlier. Affordable housing is an issue, she said, but there are true Padstownians if you look closely. 'There's still a strong sense of community. We come together and help each other if someone's ill. The Steins do stuff for local charities. We have a carnival committee,' she added. The May Day Obby Oss celebrations (which celebrate the end of winter and the coming of summer) are a point of fierce local pride. 'It annoys me when people say the Steins ruined it all. It isn't anyone's fault, is it? If he didn't come here, someone else would be doing something.' It's a fair point. If the Great ('Wild') Western Club had succeeded, if fishing hadn't rerouted to Newlyn, if Airbnb never existed, if that big supermarket on the edge of town never opened, Padstow would have a very different feel today. But it would probably, inevitably, be touristy anyway. The town, and Rick Stein's impact upon it, divides opinion. But I know there are many seaside towns across the country – where high streets are fading, unemployment is high and the tourism heyday has long passed or never arrived at all – that wouldn't turn their noses up at Padstow's epicurean pathway, if a plucky young chef were to come knocking.
