Cotswolds
This is my personal way of travelling, quiet notes on places that don’t need explaining, only feeling.
The #Cotswolds are exactly that kind of place. Deeply elegant, familiar even the first time you arrive.
People come here once they’re done with spectacle, for the pleasure of staying rather than doing.
To stay put: pub with rooms like @thebullcharlbury , warm and kind, where, thanks to Ed, one night easily turns into two.
Or a cottage taken just for you @thecotswoldretreat , immersed in the countryside, nothing around but fields.
Make sure there’s a proper fire and, if you’re lucky, you’ll wake up one morning to snow outside the window.
If you want to slow everything down properly, @sohohouse Farm works beautifully. Spa booked, schedule loose.
Days start early, around 8.30 am, with long-walks and cold air doing most of the work.
Pack your Hunter boots and a proper @barbour . The countryside expects both.
Breakfast on the way at @thebellstow . Oat porridge and an American coffee.
Midday is for stopping at @daylesfordfarm : Grocery shopping, picking up a few good things, and a quick easy lunch before heading back to the countryside.
When the body asks for more, @bamford Wellness Spa is the answer. Sauna, sound healing, and the kind of calm that feels closer to sleep than wellness.
Lunch can also stretch a little longer at @thefoxatoddington . Ask for a table by the fireplace, under the horse ribbons.
Evenings are best kept simple.
Sometimes @thewildrabbitkingham if you feel like going out.
More often dinner at home, the fire on, something good on the table, a bottle opened without ceremony.
Movie nights (the Holiday, Price and prejudice, even if you seen them 100 times) by the fire. Cards or backgammon. This is when the countryside really does its work.
Villages are best taken slowly.
Stow-on-the-Wold early.
Castle Combe, @themanor_house
Moreton-in-Marsh.
If you feel like moving, horse riding, clay shooting, or half a day on a golf course.
Drive a @defender, right hand drive.
The Cotswolds aren’t about doing more.
They’re about choosing better.
PS. Tuxedo optional. @estellemanor Manor approved.
Extra Point: RH England at Aynho Park
