Next time you fancy a staycation with your parents, your sister and her brood and your long lost cousin from the Rhineland Pfalz, don’t spend hours searching Airbnb, employing Pulitzer Prize-winning maths to work out if you can find enough rooms available in the same place at the same time…book The Farm at Avebury in Wiltshire instead. It sleeps up to 23, is only two hours from London, and is perfect for group getaways from hen parties to 40th’s and the aforementioned family party.

Clever owners (and fourth generation farmers) Rob and Alice Hues have converted the stables on their working farm into six beautifully decorated self-catering hideaways, clustered around a courtyard. What’s more, they’ve also created communal space among the landscaped planting, so groups can congregate and celebrate outside – when it’s warm/dry enough, you can get together under a softly-lit pergola. Two other indoor spaces, ‘The Barn’ and ‘The Granary’ are available for you to use too, at no extra cost if you’re booking all six stables. One thing – pop-up workshops, like lampshade making classes and yoga sessions take place in there too, so if something’s already running when you want to stay and you fancy joining in, book yourself a place!

Each of the six apartments have Wiltshire-themed names: ‘Silbury Hill’, ‘Greyweathers’, ‘Long Barrow’, ‘Windmill Hill”,   ‘Longstones’ and ‘Swallowhead Springs” and you can book them all out or choose what you need for smaller groups or even two of you if you wish – just bear in mind that the communal areas of the property means that you’re likely to end up making a few new friends – which could very well be something you’d like. Dogs are very welcome too.

You might be tempted, however, to spend most of your time inside and why not?  After all, interior designer Polly Ashman worked hard with Rob and Alice to give each accommodation an individual, contemporary flavour using a mix of bold patterns and mid-century colours and shapes, reminiscent of 1950’s Californian haciendas. Silbury Hill, features rich hues and textures with bold pink kitchen cabinets and sleeps 6. Long Barrow, which sleeps 4 is bright and airy with a playful colour palette and a stylish plaster pink bathroom. Swallowhead is a one bedroom stable decorated in soft and delicate colours with a pretty headboard. Longstones is a perfect hideaway for couples with a vaulted ceiling and a large window to create a sense of space, while Windmill Hill which sleep 4 combines navy blue with golden yellow for a friendly burst of colour. Finally Greyweathers which sleeps 4-6 ,is dressed in muted tones with exposed, local Sarsen stone to help make it a calm and welcoming place to stay.

Each former stable block has its own mini equipped kitchen and being Wiltshire, you’ll have access to no end of delightful produce to feast on. When you arrive, you’ll be welcomed with a locally-baked sourdough loaf as well as milk and butter. You can buy produce like bacon and sausages from the farm (real name, ‘Galteemore’), for a monster fry-up that you could even enjoy with your friends and family over in The Barn or Granary. Or, if you prefer someone else does the cooking, the team at The Farm can recommend plenty of local caterers and places to go out to eat, including another of our Muddy Little Black Book favourites, The Red Lion at East Chisenbury.

If you fancy a day-trip, then you’re in the right place to experience the spiritual, historical side of Wiltshire as the farm is located inside Avebury World Heritage site, in the heart of neolithic Britain. This UNESCO-protected landscape is said to have some of the world’s most exciting and iconic monuments, like the ancient burial ground at West Kennet Long Barrow and the mysterious Silbury Hill which is right next to the farm gates. For more modern amusement, there’s a whole list of things to do on their website including a trip to Swindon’s Designer Outlet, Bath, and Lucknam Park, not forgetting Bowood (also recommended by us) with its spa, children’s adventure playground, golf course, gardens and restaurant. You should also definitely take a shopping trip to Marlborough where there are some beautiful shops like Willow and Wolf Boutique and The Curate Shop. Of course, chances are you’re going to be loving The Farm At Avebury so much, you won’t make it further than those farm gates. And who’d blame you? If that’s the case, check out their list of experiences to make your stay extra special.