AvailablePitch stays at Stanstead Hall Farm CL, Suffolk.

Sometimes you just want to get away from everything and long to find a tranquil haven. We found just that at Stanstead Hall Farm CL. We’d done an availability search for Adult Only sites for Spring Bank Holiday, and Stanstead Hall was one of our options. We didn’t know much about Suffolk, but were keen to explore Constable Country, and are extremely pleased we did.

Stanstead Hall is a new Caravan Club Certificated Location which opened in August 2006. Before that, it was a dairy farm, and the owner, Sue has transformed it over the past two years into a thriving cereal farm, livery stables and Certificated Location. The Hall itself – a glorious old farmhouse, is surrounded by a moat, with ducks and moorhens floating along. There are two cute little cats “Spot and Spotless” who are fearless in the face of visiting dogs, and 3 geese who honk and waddle around like they own the place. Bonnie the black labrador follows Sue everywhere and is more than ready to stick a wet nose into visitors' hands at any opportunity.

The CL site is spread over about 2 acres of former scrubland which is now a gorgeous, fluid, tree-lined meadow with beautiful views over the fields. A steeply banked stream runs around the perimeter of the field, which makes it unsuitable for children. If you have a long-enough cable, you can pitch up anywhere in the field, there is so much space, and if you only have a short cable, Sue can lend you another.

This is a wonderfully easy-going and laid back site. There is a list of rules pinned up in the information area, but Sue is incredibly relaxed about everything, which makes for a wonderfully stress-free holiday. Walks are possible around the fields straight from the site, and Sue can provide maps if needed.

The site is open all year, and there is a hardstanding area with hook-up (although not as nice as the grass pitches). However, because the shower room is unheated, you would need to be either very quick or very brave to use it in winter.

A site like this is a real find and is about as close to “proper camping in a field” as you can get but with the luxury of a loo, a shower and hook-ups. It’s brilliant as it is, and with Sue’s ongoing improvements, it can only get better and better. Good Luck Sue with your wonderful CL, and we’ll be back some day soon – hopefully when you’ve got your B&B running and we can bring Mum and Aunty along too.