Staying in The Old Press: first impressions of our lodge with a cider-making past
Updated: 4 days ago
The Old Press is a characterful lodge for two at The Firs, attached to the Tithe Barn on the spot where apples were once pressed for cider. It's a stay with a story baked into the walls — and a setting, among silver birches, that's quietly one of the prettiest on the site.
Here's what staying here is like.
There's a particular romance to sleeping somewhere with a working past, and the Old Press has it. The name isn't decoration: this is where the estate's apples were pressed, and the lodge has been converted with that heritage kept rather than scrubbed away. Guests tend to love that — the sense that the building was doing honest work long before it became somewhere to escape to.
Outside, silver birches dance in the breeze, their pale trunks and shifting light giving the lodge a dappled, woodland feel. There's a firepit for the evenings — gather round it as the sky darkens, and you've got the makings of the kind of slow night out here that no restaurant can replicate.
Inside, the comfort is properly considered, with a roll-top bath that's a destination in its own right — the sort of long, hot, unhurried soak that holidays are supposed to involve. A wood-burning stove keeps things cosy when the Suffolk evenings turn cool.
And then, as in every lodge at The Firs, there's a private wood-fired hot tub — yours alone, heated the slow way, perfect for a soak under the birches with the firepit glowing nearby.
The Old Press is a couples' lodge with real soul: a stay for two who like a bit of history and a lot of peace. For families or groups, our larger lodges will suit better — but if you want character, quiet and a setting among the trees, this one rewards you.
The Old Press at a glance:
Sleeps 2 · attached to the Tithe Barn
Set where apples were pressed for cider
Roll-top bath
Firepit and silver birches outside
Private wood-fired hot tub
Wood-burning stove
Ideal for couples seeking character and calm
A hot tub made for stillness
The hot tub at The Old Press is a wood-fired soaking tub, kept simple on purpose: still water, no jets and no lights. It is calm and quiet, so you can hear the countryside and watch the stars come out above you.
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