Sipping a glass of red wine in the hot tub, warm against the chilly Suffolk night, my belly full of scallops and venison, I looked out at the swimming private lake and thought, this is my kind of wilderness.
Wilderness Reserve is a vast estate in the Suffolk countryside, about five miles inland from Dunwich. It is owned by billionaire Foxtons property magnate Jon Hunt and is next to his own home, the 18th century country house Heveningham Hall.
Wilderness Reserve opened as a holiday destination in 2013 and consists of properties of varying sizes, shapes, ages and equipment, spread over 8,000 hectares of pasture, woodland and regenerating arable land. Between wedding-ready country homes, converted farmhouses, secluded hideaways and lakeside cottages, there's something for everyone. It's only wild in the loosest sense of the word. Rather than starting with a grand plan, Wilderness expands more organically, slowly dotting the landscape with properties spread across the two estates within the estate, Sibton Park and Chapel Barn.
Nine new properties will open between now and early 2025, including Yelm, where my family stayed. This two-bedroom thatched cottage sits on a small man-made lake, ideal for a quick dip or a trip in the provided rowing boat. The outside is dark peach pink; inside, a double-height living room is dominated by a striking red-brick chimney. Considering that it has just opened, the house already felt pleasantly occupied.
After we unpacked, Harry Hunt, Jon's son, who runs the Wilderness Reserve on a daily basis, arrived to show us around. Harry, 35 and one of four children, started his career as a rally driver, racing in the World Rally Championship and the Dakar Rally before a serious crash in Morocco. Crawling out of a burning car with a broken back forced him to reconsider his priorities.
"I tried to get back into racing, but I lost that last few percent," he told me. "I went into this instead." Working at the family business was an opportunity to immerse himself in the landscape where he spent most weekends and holidays as a boy, while helping to put the Suffolk countryside on the map.
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"Post-Covid, post-Brexit, everyone has fallen a little more in love with the English countryside and they are intrigued to explore it," he said. "And there are some squatting spots out there."
Wilderness Reserve is one of the few properties in Britain that sit somewhere on the continuum between renting a cottage and staying in a country house hotel. A house has privacy and charm, but few conveniences. A hotel has everything on tap, but generally less privacy. Closer to the hotel are places like Soho Farmhouse, where small huts cluster around a central collection of restaurants, shops, a spa and other amenities.
Wilderness Reserve is quieter and more refined. Yelm prices, for four people, start at £796 per night. For those who want to go completely off-grid, there's Hex, a one-bedroom cottage without electricity, which starts at £392. So far there's no communal restaurant or hotel, although there are vague plans for it in the future. Rushing is not the order of the day here.
The great thing about the setup is that guests can occupy it exactly as they want. Facilities are designed to promote self-reliance: Yelm features a fully equipped kitchen and a Big Green Egg barbecue. Larger properties have private cinemas, pool tables, bars, dining rooms and basement rooms that can look a lot like a nightclub. It can happen that you come by with a car full of stuff and hardly encounter an employee all weekend. An extended family could split into several cottages, conveniently but separated from each other.
Alternatively, you can have everything delivered from masseuses to private chefs, from canapes to breakfast. The staff visits Morris Minors. This flexibility and privacy has made Wilderness Reserve popular not only with the very wealthy, but also with celebrities including Lionesses captain Leah Williamson, comedian Jack Whitehall and presenter Sandi Toksvig.
For those feeling adventurous, there is a full range of activities on site: yoga, archery, tennis, treasure hunts, nature walks. Although the landscape is still too well maintained for the Wilderness Reserve to include a formal rewilding project, much rewilding is taking place. Harry Read, the local ecologist, gave me a quick tour: as it recovers from farmland, the land is becoming a happier home for all kinds of wildlife: deer, moths, otters, badgers, foxes, butterflies and birds, including kestrels and barn owls. "It's going to be beautiful," he said, pointing to the hundreds of new trees, mainly beech and hornbeam, and the miles of hedges being prepared. "It will be just like it was a hundred years ago." Not complete wilderness, but it is getting closer.
Wilderness Reserve is also a handy base for exploring this part of Suffolk: Aldeburgh is just a 20-minute drive away, for fish and chips on the beach or a fancier meal at the Suffolk, the excellent fish restaurant opened by George Pell who used to own the Soho institution L'Escargot. Yoxford, the village next to the estate, has a delicatessen with local produce for anyone who forgot to stop at the supermarket on the way up, as well as an extensive antique shop.
On our second morning, a charming guide took our daughter on a guided bear hunt, deftly staged for her age, which ended with us showing her how to build a fire and, most importantly, roast marshmallows on it. Later she cycled along the empty paths, slept well and learned what a barn owl is. Our son taught himself to walk on the soft carpet in the living room. A useful skill, in the wilderness or not.
Essentials
Ed Cumming traveled as a guest of Wilderness Reserve (01986 802113; wildernessreserve.com), which offers cottages from around £199 per person per night.
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