Swinton Bivouac

Tucked away in the Yorkshire Dales is a truly magical place – a place that demands stillness, where nature feels absolutely sacred and a stunning new world for children to explore. The 20, 000 acre Swinton Estate, close to Masham, North Yorkshire features ancient woodland and the impressive Druid’s Temple – recreated in the 1800’s.  Amongst Swinton Estate is ‘The Bivouac’ – tree lodges and yurts that instantly caught my eye whilst looking for a weekend escape online.

We booked our couple of nights away last minute (as usual!) and decided to book a tree lodge, rather than a meadow yurt. Our tree lodge featured a king size bed on the top floor (for us), three single beds on the mezzanine (for Win and Ru), and a queen sized bed on the bottom floor (for Otto). The boys loved everything about the lodges and it was such a brilliant playground for them too. Win loved arranging the fairy lights and lanterns, and they all loved collecting wood and helping to build a fire, which was essential during our November stay.

The Druid’s Temple was a short walk from our lodge which we all loved, and both Jared and I commented that we had never seen such lush terrain. It was beautiful, and difficult to describe.

Breakfast both mornings was a short walk down a country lane to the Bivouac cafe. The cafe served a simple variety of delicious food in an effortless and thoughtful way. Staying at Swinton Bivouac felt like such an escape from the world, and our lodge was our very own cocoon – a hideaway from everyone and everything. I love it when it is just the five of us. It’s my favourite.

Swinton Bivouac is absolutely somewhere we would love to go back to – perhaps in the summer to have a different experience, and explore the surroundings in a new way. The Swinton Estate also has so much more to offer – hikes, a spa, a cookery school, fishing and birds of prey to name a few. It’s the perfect escape for a night, or two, or three, or more.

E xx

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