How To Spend A Weekend In The Cotswolds
With its quintessential villages and idyllic honey stone cottages, the Cotswolds make for the ideal weekend getaway, especially in winter with its long walks and cozy pubs. Kate Lough curates the perfect itinerary, including the loveliest places to eat, drink, sleep — and get a seriously good massage.
Where to Stay
A Converted Chapel
If you are looking for your quarters, The Old Chapel is a meticulously converted village church in Paxford, that design lovers will feel right at home in. An exterior of warm honey stone gives way to slick but cozy modern interiors that are the perfect foil to many of the chapel’s original features: pews have been repurposed as a headboard, the altar has been given a new lease of life as a coffee table and the font is transformed into a wall hanging. There are two double bedrooms — one with vaulted ceilings and a freestanding tub for long soaks after a blustery walk, the other seemingly suspended in a pod — making The Old Chapel perfect for a small group of friends. There’s a sun-trap patio for your morning coffee, a sociable open kitchen for lazy breakfasts, and a log burner next to the vast sofa for cozy afternoons once the sun sets. Plus, you’re within striking distance of some of the Cotswolds’ loveliest towns, including Broadway, Chipping Camden, and Stow-on-the-Wold. The Old Chapel is available through kiphideaways. com for £155 per night.
The Chic Pub with Rooms
Opened last summer, the Fox at Oddington is the chicest new pub with rooms in the area. The latest outpost of the Bamford family’s Daylesford empire, it sits in a 19th-century building in an idyllic Cotswolds hamlet, surrounded by rolling fields and gentle streams. A village pub at heart, there are six gorgeous bedrooms, a generous garden, and a fantastic restaurant and bar. Designed by Carole Bamford with a ‘zero to landfill’ approach, The Fox runs on renewable energy, champions local artisans, and even has a living meadow. The seasonal menus make the most of the Daylesford and Wootton estates, featuring prime cuts of meat and the best quality veg from their farms.
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Where to Eat & Drink
You are spoilt for choice when it comes to the Cotswolds. While staying at The Old Chapel, you will want to make the easy circular walk at lunchtime, stopping at the award-winning Ebrington Arms — try to bag a table by the fire at the bar. Or you can jump in the car from either accommodation to roa test the menus at the Michelin-starred Wild Rabbit (Fox’s sister outfit), The Lamb Inn at Shipton or Daylesford Farm’s Trough. While you are at the latter, stop in at the farm shop to stock up on cheeses, meats, and wines — the produce is fantastic. There are countless pubs to tick off the list, but our other favorites include The Bull Inn at Charlbury and The Chequers in Churchill.
What to Do
Apart from all the eating and drinking, there are plenty of wonderful walks, lovely shops, and spas to stop in at, too. For a superlative massage or facial, make a booking at the Bamford Spa (also on the Daylesford Farm), where soon there will be an all-singing, all-dancing Wellness Club opening. When it comes to walks, we love the circular Broadway Tower walk and recommend that you stop off in town at the Broadway Deli for sandwiches to fuel it. From the Fox, you can walk along the bridle path from Oddington to Daylesford, taking in the views and a postcard-pretty 13th-century church. It is also worth making the drive to Blenheim Palace, just outside Woodstock, where you can wander around its magnificent parkland. Shoppers should make the pilgrimage to Amanda Brooks’ Cutter Brooks in Stow-on-the-Wold for her beautiful curation of homeware, Station Mill Antiques in Chipping Norton and Oxford Shirt Co. in the extremely pretty market town of Burford.
Follow Kate on Instagram @kateloughtravel.