Finding one place that suits a group of 12 spanning 73 years of ages is no small feat. A Condé Nast Traveller writer facing exactly that challenge — a double birthday weekend with teenagers, young kids and grandparents in tow — settled on Redmere Hall, a large holiday home in the Wiltshire countryside, and came away calling it the benchmark for multi-generational staycations.
The house itself has proper history: built as a stable in 1838, it has been restored as a single ground-floor property sleeping up to 22, with the interiors done by London agency Run for the Hills. The equestrian past shows up in the design without tipping into theme-park territory — think a stable door opening onto the garden and a kitchen built for serious group cooking, complete with a huge wooden table, three ovens and enough glassware for two nights of festivities.
The standout feature for families is the eight-person bunk room with deep-red wooden beds and direct access to the pool, which apparently became the kids' headquarters for the whole stay. Adults get their own territory too: a dining room with a bespoke 20-seat table, a slick lounge the writer compared to a private Soho House, and a cinema room with a C-shaped sofa and Bang & Olufsen sound system.
Outside, there's plenty to keep everyone occupied without ever getting in the car — tennis courts, a heated swimming pool, a cedar hot tub and a stone barbecue, plus peacocks wandering the grounds. Those who did venture out made the short drive to Frome, an artsy market town in neighbouring Somerset, for quirky shops and farm-shop provisions.
What makes this worth your attention is the recipe rather than the specific house, though the house is a strong example. Big-group bookings work when boredom is designed out: dedicated spaces for different age groups, self-catering setups that make cooking for 12 a pleasure rather than a chore, and enough on-site activities that no one has to agree on a plan. Redmere Hall via Unique Homestays nails all three, and it's pitched squarely at special occasions — birthdays, anniversaries, reunions — where the venue ends up being the holiday.
If you're planning a milestone celebration with a mixed-age crowd, a place like this splits the cost between enough people to be reasonable, and gives teenagers and toddlers equal reason to be thrilled. Just book well ahead: large countryside houses with pools and tennis courts go fast for school-holiday weekends.
