Green on My Mind

Green on My Mind: Surrey

Just a five-minute walk from the picture-perfect village of Shere in the Surrey Hills, this place is a much-loved family home. Set in five acres of private grounds, with views across the rolling hills, it's bound to be a hit with lovers of the great outdoors, with excellent hiking and cycling routes from your door. A substantial period house approached via a sweeping drive, it's a slice of rural living on a grand scale – there's everything from an outdoor pool and tennis court to a vast vegetable garden and free-range hens. And children will love the sunken trampoline.

Inside, elegant styling, country furnishings and eclectic artwork blend to create a lived-in, warm feeling. A beautiful living room and snug both feature working fireplaces and the kitchen is extremely well-equipped when it comes to cooking for a large group (yes, there really are two dishwashers). You can even cook alfresco meals down at the pool house. But its most impressive room has to be the orangery, where a long dining table is the star of the show, against a backdrop of vast windows and doors with spectacular views.

Perfect for special gatherings, and with a new yoga studio, it's also a flexible space with an additional cottage and a garden studio that can be rented alongside it. And when you're not entertaining, the village, with its tea shop and pretty church, is just a stroll through the fields – one of the most scenic villages in England, you may recognise it as one of the locations where the movie The Holiday was filmed.

Home truths:
*If you're a larger group, you can hire the additional cottage (sleeping four in two bedrooms) and garden studio (sleeping two) – raising the capacity to a total of sixteen
*There's a new yoga studio with space for six so this could be perfect for groups planning a yoga retreat
*You'll have plenty of private parking
*There's laptop-friendly workspace and fast broadband
*The kitchen has a four-door AGA heated with economy 7 electricity
*In the summer, guests are welcome to enjoy produce from the vegetable garden and meet the free-range hens
*The pool house is equipped with a kitchenette, WC and changing rooms
*One king bed can be divided into twins on request
*You're welcome to bring up to two pets