The Farm House Wolsingham

The Farm House is at Bowlees Holiday Cottages, just outside Wolsingham in Weardale. It's a detached house on a hillside, part of a small group of cottages. The main thing is it sleeps up to nineteen people. Six bedrooms, five bathrooms.

It's a 4 Star property, so it's comfortable and well-equipped. The building is old, a former farmhouse, so some of the rooms are unusual. There's a family suite on the ground floor with curved walls and a high ceiling, which was originally a gin gang for horses. Upstairs, another suite has a galleried en-suite with a large bath.

You get your own large garden and a private hot tub. The views are over the owner's land, which is about sixty acres of fields and woodland. There are footpaths and cycle routes leading straight from the grounds.

On site, there's a shared games room with a full-size snooker table, a heated indoor swimming pool, another shared hot tub, and a fishing lake you can use.

In terms of facilities, it's got what you'd need for a big group: plenty of parking, a washing machine, dishwasher, TV, WiFi, and bedding and towels are included. You can bring up to two dogs.

The local area is good for walking and cycling. Tunstall Reservoir and Hamsterley Forest are very close by for trails. A shop and pub are about two miles away in Wolsingham.

Within about half an hour's drive you've got a few things. Beamish Museum is a big open-air museum about northern life. There's the Killhope Lead Mining Centre if you're into industrial history. Durham city is about 30 minutes away, with the cathedral and castle. For a bigger day out, Newcastle city centre, the MetroCentre, or the North East coast are all within that sort of range.

Some useful links for planning: Visit County Durham, North Pennines AONB, and National Trust North Yorkshire & Durham.