Cool Place of the Day: West Lexham, Norfolk

Every day, a new place to discover or explore from coolplaces.co.uk

This rural escape is a bit hard to get to without a car, but it’s well worth the journey

It doesn’t get much more rural than this 21-acre Breckland estate in Norfolk, which has been developed by festival entrepreneur and sometime garden designer and horticulturalist Edmund Colville and his team as a "creative social enterprise" to great effect.

A collection of farm buildings set among woods in the heart of the village, it’s a glamping site and complex of holiday cottages. But the vision goes much further than this: they run courses and workshops in all sorts of topics – everything from cookery and yoga to "permaculture design" and "the art of collaborative leadership" – but the great thing is you don’t have to buy into all this to get something out of West Lexham, with six rather lovely and beautifully constructed treehouses in the woods along with six beautiful bell tents by the lake.

The lake has a couple of rowing boats – and there’s a swimming pool up by the main house, which is still a private home and available for use to renters of the cottages. Above all, it’s a wonderful spot for old-fashioned holidays with the kids, an idyllic place that's a bit hard to get to (without a car), but even harder to leave.

Cool Places is a website from the creators of Rough Guides and Cool Camping, suggesting the best places to stay, eat, drink and shop in Britain (coolplaces.co.uk)