Chilled Out Adult Only Glamping

First thing’s first. There’s no one called Lloyd at Lloyds Meadow. This secluded lakeside getaway, eight miles east of Chester, is run by amiable host Sarah Stone and her family, complete with a pair of friendly dogs. There’s also far more than meadows here, with lakes, rushes, alder trees and fern-clad slopes that create little enclaves. It’s more of a ‘Lloyd’s beautiful natural wilderness’ than a meadow. Whoever Lloyd happens to be.

The glamping area itself has a wonderfully quiet and private feel. Children and pets are not permitted, guaranteeing some peace and quiet, and the five-metre bell tents are each kitted out for couples, meaning there’s ample room inside. Real beds and high quality duvets show the place is designed with comfort in mind, while small details abound – a copy of The Birdwatcher’s Pocket Guide helps you make the most of the waterside wildlife, for instance, and solar lanterns have been hung in the trees to create an enchanting evening ambience.

Outside, the lake, draped in a beautiful quilt of mist in the early morning, is one of four on the nine-acre site. Lloyds Meadow is also a coarse fishery, stocked with roach, rudd, bream and more, and Sarah can help rent you fishing tackle and arrange a license if you’re interested. It’s also a short stroll to the plush washroom facilities – exclusively for the use of glampers rather than fishermen – newly installed in 2019.

Beyond the boundaries of your glamping glade, the site offers an ideal blend of town and country. It’s a five-minute walk up the lane to Mouldsworth Railway Station, with hourly trains into Chester city centre, while, in the opposite direction, Delemere Forest is just a mile away. Covering almost 2,500 acres, Delmere is the largest stretch of woodland in the country, traced with footpaths and car-free cycleways and with a nearby Go Ape! centre where you can clip into zip lines and enjoy the canopy above. If you haven’t brought your own, you can hire bikes locally from Tracs outside the Linmere Lodge Visitor Centre (one mile from the glampsite).

Chester meanwhile, offers endless historic curiosities, from the magnificent cathedral and old cathedral court, to the town hall, the city walls (a two-mile circumference walk) and the famous clock above the east gate. The streets have a real olde world charm too. Modern day shops contrast with the ancient Jacobean-style buildings in which they reside; a branch of Zara beneath low beams or the Fat Face store with a striped, three-storey timber front. There’s a Lloyds bank as well. And the Lloyds of Chester Hotel. Different Lloyds we can only assume. It's a name that's done the rounds.