Here are three facts about YHA Tanners Hatch Surrey Hills. Firstly, it requires a country walk of just under a mile to reach its front door. Secondly, you’ll find no Wi-Fi or TV when you eventually arrive. Neither hustle nor bustle have any place here. And thirdly, the whole place looks exactly like the sort of cottage where a kindly woodcutter would live in a fairytale. If those facts sound appealing, then so should this one: it’s readily available on Exclusive Hire.
What’s YHA Exclusive Hire? Well, as the name suggests, it’s your opportunity to rent out an entire hostel for the use of yourself, your friends and your family. That’s up to 15 people in the case of YHA Tanners Hatch Surrey Hills (as well as any dogs that might fancy coming along with you), although some Exclusive Hire hostels offer far more bed space.
As with so many hostels in the network, a big part of the property’s charm lies in its location. It’s surrounded by rambling woodland and is every inch the bucolic bolthole, but if you’re coming by train — the nearest station being the wonderfully named Box Hill & Westhumble — then the journey from London Waterloo takes just 47 minutes direct. In other words, you can get from roaming through the inner city to rambling down a rural track in the amount of time it takes for a football match to reach half-time.
I’ve stayed in three YHA Exclusive Hire properties over the years, alongside poodles, toddlers, old friends and close family, and I can tell you this much: having the run of a hostel in the country for a few nights can be a joy. Think muddy wellies, pillow fights, big breakfasts and long walks. Think cups of tea, logs for the wood-burner, music in the kitchen and shared bottles of red. Think outdoor adventures, indoor board games and late-night conversations. It’s like staying in a holiday home that happens to have bunk-beds and a brilliant location.
On which note, the choice of different settings is as wide-ranging as the size of the hostels. From the 27-bed YHA Lizard Point in Cornwall to the 106-bed YHA Langdale in the Lake District, and from the 24-bed YHA Pwll Deri in Pembrokeshire to the 50-bed YHA St Briavels Castle in Gloucestershire, you can take your pick from coastal getaways, mountain mansions, historic buildings and much more besides. There are plenty of Exclusive Hire properties to choose from, and one thing you can say with certainty about YHA is that wherever there’s a prime swathe of English or Welsh countryside, there’s likely to be a hostel close by.
I still remember the thrill of seeing my then primary school-aged kids exploring the gardens of a hostel in north Wales with the children of a friend, all chirping away to their new playmates and delighting in the independence of being able to totter free-range around the grounds. None of them were used to having a backdrop of rolling mountains, or the idea that sheep might be grazing within earshot of their pillows, or the notion of having endless bedrooms to play hide-and-seek in. They were, above all, wide-eyed and happy — and by consequence, so were us adults.
Of course, the reasons for choosing to book a hostel on YHA Exclusive Hire are varied. From school groups and birthday celebrations to friend reunions and family gatherings — or something else entirely — the only real limitations are where you’d like to be based and for how long. All have self-catering kitchens (did someone say pasta night?) and most tend to have minimum stays of two or three nights.
One family of four recently hired a small property to give their autistic daughter the experience of hostelling without the potential flash-point of sharing the space with unknown fellow guests. Another, larger group of 28 stayed at Yorkshire’s YHA Haworth to grant their kids an electronics-free, four-day break where the whole group could comfortably eat together in one room. Last autumn, meanwhile, a 16-strong “dads and lads” hiking group hired out the famed YHA Blacksail for an unforgettable Lakeland getaway.
One of YHA’s core aims is to connect people to each other, to nature and the outdoors, to culture and to heritage. The choice of so many Exclusive Hire properties — many of which can be booked year round, but some of which are only bookable exclusively in autumn and winter — serves not only to create special memories for you, our customer base, but also raises vital income for our ongoing work as a social enterprise for young people.
So if you’re thinking of organising a break to remember over the next few months, head to our website to see the options available to you. After all, nothing sets off a group get-together quite like the crashing waves of the Atlantic, the wooded lanes of rural valleys or the hulking presence of 900-metre peaks on your doorstep. And if you’re somewhere outside the clutches of 24-hour technology? These days, that has to be a blessing.
