There are certain things you don’t expect to find on your doorstep in London. One of them is a glamping site so peaceful that if you closed your eyes amid the birdsong in the late afternoon sun, you could almost believe you were in an ashram.

Yet as I rolled up with my three adolescent children, parked outside the barn and dumped our luggage into the waiting wheelbarrows, I could sense an invisible burden tumbling from all our shoulders.

Set in 150 acres of private woodland that is studded with fields and lakes, Home Farm glamping site is a true Arcadia, located — as its owners point out on its website — on the Aldenham Estate in the green belt, just 13 miles from Marble Arch and four miles from the end of the underground.

In fact, it is North London’s closest glamping site, ten minutes from Stanmore tube or Elstree & Borehamwood station in a taxi.

The main area is home to a circle of 12 bell tents and yurts, all set around the edge of the field. The grass in the field is long and coarse but short paths have been mown through it, and these lead to a central clearing that acts as a sort of stage for yoga sessions and impromptu games of cricket. 

On one side of the field is a row of showers — all steaming hot, you’ll be glad to know, and all made ‘Covid secure’ by being allocated to individual tents — and a barn, which houses a tea and coffee point, comfy sofas, a phone charging facility (phew) and a table tennis table.ecue, drank spiky Campfire Gin from the local Puddingstone Distillery in Tring (provided in a presentation box) and chatted to the kids. And it grew steadily colder. 

While the kids got stuck into the ping pong, I unpacked. We had taken one of the yurts, which was clean, ample and well-appointed, with decking outside on which barbecues and fires could be lit in the evenings. It was very warm that afternoon, but all the staff and co-campers warned gravely of sub-zero temperatures overnight, and thrust blankets and hot water bottles into our arms. 

They were not wrong. At dusk, a sealed plastic box filled with Covid-friendly crockery, glassware and kitchen implements was cheerfully delivered to our yurt, alongside cardboard boxes containing enough food to feed a small army — as well as being able to prebook BBQ boxes, you can choose breakfast and lunch options, with vegetarian or vegan versions available. There are fridges in the barn too if you’re self-catering.

As darkness drew in, I lit a barb

But we were prepared for whatever April could throw at us. Each bed had been equipped with not one but two hot water bottles, together with extra blankets. We layered up, and in the morning we emerged like caterpillars from cocoons, fresh-faced and wild-headed — but warm. Glasses of water left outside had turned to ice.

There’s plenty to do on site as well, with extra activities from local businesses. My two daughters, aged 11 and 13, rather bashfully accepted facials in the beauty tent, lovingly run by Inspirations Beauty, which had created this pop-up offering, including massages, after losing its own premises during lockdown .

There was yoga — which looked like it would have been blissful, had we been less lazy — bat walks and ‘forest bathing’ from Wilderness Foundation, a sort of bushcraft activity (which we missed due to a sat nav mix-up). But the estate was so extensive that there were endless opportunities for rambles and other adventures. 

Soon there will be even more, with At Home Farm Live food and music festival scheduled for the summer with outdoor events running until September.

Even our one-night stay, however, left us feeling well re-set as, buoyed by a decent cooked breakfast, we embarked on the very short drive towards London.

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