Sluttery Travels: The Officer's House, Sussex

Sussex is one of the most beautiful parts of England. It's got the perfect jealousy-inducing balance of countryside and seaside and it's only 90 minutes away from London. It will always be one of my favourite places to escape for a weekend and I don't get the chance nearly often enough. While I'm a huge fan of boutique hotels and snuggly robes, I absolutely love self-catering holidays. There's no one to tell me what time to have breakfast (or tell me off when breakfast is nothing but tea and chocolate biscuits), I'm free to do what I like and cooking is so much more fun in a huge kitchen. The Officer's House in Rye Harbour ticks all of these boxes.

Dream kitchens have islands in. That's a Sluttery fact.

The house is actually owned by our friends at The Gallivant Hotel, just a few miles away in Camber Sands, which is one of the most beautiful beaches in the UK. Even in early March. Incidentally, Camber Sands has the best excited beach dog to people ratio I've ever seen. Well done, brilliant dogs everywhere.

We sat at opposite ends of the table like they do in costume dramas. It's really very silly. Frances made us watch The Voice while we were eating steak and drinking Pina Coladas. See? It's easy to just fall into chilling out and reading books and doing exactly what you'd do at home, but somehow it's loads better.

It's a charmingly decorated house. One of those places that feels instantly comfortable and you find yourself trying out all of the many chairs and sofas.

The house is packed with board games (there's even a proper poker set which was totally wasted on us) and some excellent books. Frances and I fought over who got to read the 1940s edition of The Bedside Esquire. It's incredible, everyone should have a copy.

Bedrooms are 'slept hours longer than I planned to' comfortable and simple and I like that as much thought has gone into the twin rooms and kids rooms as the rest of the house. I nearly slept on the top bunk. I do wish the rooms had clocks in. I honestly had no idea what time it was for the entire weekend.

Prices start at £950 for a week, and the house sleeps 8. The only major downside? If you don't drive, The Officer's House might not be for you. The short distance from Rye and the drive to beautiful Camber Sands won't be a problem by car but it's just slightly too far out of town to walk and the cost of several taxi rides rack up over a weekend. So all I need now is for someone with a car to drive me back so I can stay for an entire week. That's the best plan. If you've got four wheels and want somewhere to stay on a lovely break, The Officer's House is close on weekend perfection.

We were guests at The Officer's House and we're feeling really bad about accidentally stealing their Prince CD.