Spring at Soho Farmhouse
Words: Polly
Photos: Polly, Soho Farmhouse
“With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy?” – Oscar Wilde
Once a cattle farm, new life has breathed in restaurants, a deli, Cowshed spa, pub, shop, cinema, gym, stables, pool, lake and tennis courts. The farmyard square is alive with ambient music, the satisfying scrunch of shingle underfoot and an oversized fire-pit with gently crackling wood emitting a soothing smoky air.
Waiters dart around serving aromatic food to guests relaxing on vintage sofas, reupholstered in striped, ikat and Indian textiles, amidst a percussion of clinking cutlery, chatter and carefree laughter. Subtle hints of lavender, peony and rose gently radiate from the floral bouquets that bring colour [and bees] to the shop doorway.
Beyond, a stroll to the gym is met by birdsong and a warm perfumed breeze drifting from the laundry.
Retro sunbeds topped with green and white striped towels line the lake in front of the steel blue boathouse. The rhythm of a horse’s trot mingles with the light tinkle of bicycle bells, as original milk-floats in pale vintage green livery quietly serve cabins and ferry guests to and fro.
Surrounding hills are carpeted in green, woven with threads of sandy coloured pathways that lead to tranquil wooden cabins, interspersed by a gently trickling brook. Lawnmowers whir, throwing daisies and the scent of fresh cut grass up into the virgin spring air, a luminous topaz, broken only by the streak of a passing light aircraft, whose hum is gently melancholic.
This place really is a little piece of English pie.
