On arrival at a Feather Down farm, most people experience the same thing; you take off your watch and turn off your mobile phone.

Having packed up the car after work, checked whether you have forgotten, locked up, and with the journey to your Feather Down farm behind you, the change to the 'natural rhythm' of the country life is unbeatable.

After all the stress and hassle of daily life, you have arrived at a spot where there is no pressure nor any deadlines to meet.

With the car unloaded, the beds made, the stove filled up and lit, something nice on the table, you can feel how tranquillity descends upon you. With everybody together in one room, the tendency to laugh a lot soon becomes difficult to suppress. This happens when you discover all the things in the Feather Down Farm tent:

the percolator; the old coffee grinder; the vintage toilet; the canopy bed, in which everybody has to have a little lie-down with the doors shut, just to experience what it was like in bygone times.

The scent of the country air, the oxygen and especially the tranquility. As soon as you arrive, you'll experience the rhythm of rural life; as a peaceful heartbeat. Gangway, gangway, we are in an incredible hurry… changes into dum di dum di dum, tralalalala, tralalalala.....

The Feather Down farm tent is located in a rural area. Always on, nearby or at a nature reserve, country estate of one of the organisations associated with conservation in a rural area. Around the Feather Down tent there is a lot of space to move freely; being crammed together is never the case at a Feather Down farm. Each tent has a picnic table, enabling everybody to sit outside. The feeling of solidarity, of being together again and especially doing things together. Even if it is just laying the table, cooking together or doing the dishes by hand. You'll notice there are a lot more conversations than at home.

What is nice to see, is when a group of people take a number of tents for a family party. Before the meals the tables are put together and it suddenly looks like a scene from Italy. Talking and adults eating and children having fun at the water pump, in the playground, and in the paddock with the animals.

On Sunday evening practically nobody wants to go home. Often people who had planned to leave on Sunday, because of work, end up leaving on Monday morning in order to get the maximum out of their Feather Down farm stay.

Riding a bike and walking is great in the surroundings of a Feather Down farm. All the farms are in an area where a lot of things can be done and discovered. Sometimes excursions are organised in which you can take part. For example, at the end of the summer at dusk into the forest, to hear the call of the deer, or a mushroom picking tour, or experience a bat excursion in the middle of the season. Too much to mention. You can get all the information from the farmer or the local tourist-office.

On site, the farmer will give you a guided tour during your stay on the farm. This is particularly instructive for the children, so they can understand what a farmer does: how to take care of the animals and all the things that need to be done; the harvest; making cheese; milking and looking after the livestock. There is an incredible amount to learn and discover on a farm. calf and child

You can buy all sorts of things from the farm in the farm shop. Including vegetables, honey, home-made jam, butter, cheese and eggs. It differs by location. And it can be a challenging experience to prepare a meal on the cooking-stove in the tent. For some a complete surprise, for others it brings back memories of youth. In every Feather Down tent or farm shop you can find a recipe book with recipe tips.