THE children, all 18 of them, were yelling, screaming and crashing around. Thundering upstairs and down, bouncing on bunk beds, surging into the garden, and racing through the dining room and industrial-sized kitchen. Aged between 5 and 13, they were having the time of their lives on our country house weekend.

We, the 13 adults, lazed around the fire, which was blazing from the logs that we'd scavenged in the grounds. There were several decent bottles of merlot flowing and we snacked on home-made nibbles.

We could happily ignore the mayhem going on around us because this wasn't a property packed with nice (ie, breakable) knicknacks. This was a Youth Hostel, and furnished like one. It's the fourth year that our Wimbledon book club has taken over one and it's a highlight of the children's calendar.

This hostel was deep in the New Forest, outside the village of Burley, an easy two-hour drive for me, my wife, Deborah, and children, Georgia and Henry.

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The Youth Hostels Association has shed its fusty old image of anoraks and home-made sandwiches and embraced a trendier one, in order to attract families into smarter properties at bargain rates. It also offers whole hostels for hire during winter weekends, which is what we do. And you really do get the place to yourself - our only sight of the warden was when she appeared to quieten the smoke alarm during a breakfast bacon incident.

Each place we have invaded has been quirky and different. There was Littlehampton (new, like a quayside hotel), Medway (a stylish oasthouse with a games room where we played midnight table tennis) and Margate (right on the beach, which meant the children built sandcastles in January). Burley was a fine old house surrounded by trees with lovely walks straight from the front door. The decor was admittedly a little reminiscent of a council office, but at £25pp for a weekend, who cares?

The cost is the big draw, of course. It's far less than renting a house. Burley, which sleeps 36, was £900 for two nights. The children, as always, worked out their own sleeping arrangements but this was the first where the parents had to sleep dormitory style - many hostels now have family rooms.

Cooking extravagant dinners hostel-style is great fun - the buffet hot table added warmth and subtle lighting to the conservatory dining room. After cheese, port and late-night conversation, our night was disturbed only by the shrieks of the girls upstairs, who were busy covering the faces of sleeping boys with shaving foam.

On Saturday morning we peered through the bacon-infused fog in the kitchen to a bright, clear day. We took an amble through the countryside, and the children competed to see who could get most water in their wellies from storm-sodden bogs.

At lunchtime they rushed back in to the house where we fed them pasta from an army camp-sized pot, followed by another of our youth-hostel traditions, strawberries and marshmallows dipped into a chocolate fountain. After that we barely saw them as they amused themselves in the sprawling upstairs rooms.

Dinner was a raucous affair as rain buffeted the conservatory and we quaffed wine late into the night by the light of the plate warmer. The next morning we witnessed the girls' final attack on the boys - cartoons of each boy's face, protruding from dresses that had been laid around the table. No wonder the boys were quiet.

The YHA asks that you leave the place as you found it and our clean downs are always a team operation, which means it's done in no time. Then we set off to the beach, 15 minutes away, to be battered by huge waves. We enjoyed a very British picnic on the lawn of beautiful Highcliffe Castle before heading home - to the tune of the usual question: “Where are we going next year, Dad?”

NEED TO KNOW

The YHA has 109 hostels in England and Wales available to rent for weekends (and midweek breaks), mostly November-March, through its Escape to... programme (01629 592700, www.escape-to.co.uk).

Hostels of various sizes work out at about £10-£20pp per night. Burley, sleeping up to 36, starts at £799 for a weekend and from £499 for two nights mid-week. YHA annual membership of £15.95 gets you a £30 discount off the total cost. Annual membership for adults is £15.95 (under-26s pay £9.95).

MORE HOUSE PARTIES FOR LESS

Earls Hall

Cockfield, near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk (07977 217780, www.thebigdomain.com); sleeps up to 19, £7.50-£8.77pp.

You won't need to worry about the children destroying this sprawling house dating back to the 17th century. Some of it is rather grand: a lounge with a grand piano, plus a modern, well-equipped kitchen. But the rest is a little shabby: peeling wallpaper in the large bedrooms, 1970s furniture and three basic bathrooms. In fine weather, spill out on to the large garden with a stream at the bottom.

Buckland House

Buckland Filleigh, near Beaworthy, Devon (01409 281645, www.bucklandhouse.co.uk); sleeps up to 26, £17.50-£28.50pp.

Play at being Lord or Lady of the Manor when you rent this enormous Grade II listed Regency mansion set on a 280-acre estate with its own fishing lake and church. The pièce de résistance is the galleried ballroom with its dome ceiling, marble fireplace and grand piano. Up a magnificent oak staircase are 15 traditional country house bedrooms, some with four-poster beds and Victorian roll-top baths.

Wythmoor Farm Camping Barn

near Kendal, Lake District (01946 758198, www.lakelandcampingbarns.co.uk). Sleeps 12, from £7pp. One of 15 Lake District barns that can be hired for exclusive use.

This newly converted 19th century barn overlooking Howgill Fells is a more luxurious one (others have only cold running water) with cooking facilities, hot water generated from solar panels, underfloor heating from a ground source heat pump and electricity from a wind turbine. Guests sleep on mattresses (bring your own sleeping bags) in a communal area.

Ardrhu House Loch Linnhe

near Fort William, Scotland (01855 821418, www.holidayrentals.co.uk/p86614). Sleeps up to 14, from £15.30pp.

A Baronial loch-side country house with a gym, Jacuzzi and all-weather tennis court - all from as little as £43pp for a long weekend. Built in 1892, it retains all the Scottish character of the period with pine panelling, plaster cornicing and magnificent turrets, but has a contemporary interior, including a stylish kitchen, wood floors, a 40in TV in the lounge and a modern four-poster bed.

The Salthouse

Grinton, North Yorkshire (01629 592700, www.escape-to.co.uk). Sleeps up to 12, from £13pp.

A shooting lodge in a previous life, this building has been converted to sleep 12 and is great for walkers who want to tackle the the Herriot Way or Coast-to-Coast path and those on two wheels who fancy the Yorkshire Dales Cycleway. The lovely market town of Richmond is nearby.

Liz Bird

The Big House Party by Liz Bird (Pendant Press, £14.99), is available on www.thebighouseparty.com

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