V Nekotorom Tsarstve

Stays hereabouts should certainly get started with a trip into the city of Ryazan, about 15 minutes’ drive from base (it's 25 minutes to the centre). Explores of the historic buildings of the Ryazan Kremlin are a must, as are visits to the Russian Circus, the city's spectacular cathedral, and museums dedicated to art, the Russian airforce and Nobel Prize-winning scientist Ivan Pavlov (and his dogs). In search of further adventures? The site’s just seven kilometres from an indoor year-round waterpark and 10 kilometres from a wakeboarding park – both handily reached by bikes, which you can hire on site. If further-flung adventures are on the cards, it’s three hours’ drive to Vladimir, a one-time Russian capital and one of the spectacular cities (full of UNESCO-listed sights) on Russia’s Golden Ring. It’s also just a little over three hours to current capital, Moscow, where visitors can wander the Red Square, visit Lenin’s Mausoleum, take in a performance of the Russian ballet at the Bolshoi, or simply gawp at all the spectacular architecture.