by So Taylor Swift is reportedly hunkering down in the Chipping Norton area this summer, escaping fans between gigs by renting a “secret” £3,000-a-night property. That’s a smart move, in every sense. She gets to enjoy the picturesque peace and she also gets to enjoy the British obsession, the Cotswolds. But what about this area of central England – why the fixation, not only national but now global? From celebrities dropping by, to residents of some honey-stone villages complaining about “over-tourism”, it seems like no other part of the country gets top billing and constant attention.
In the decade or so since I moved to the area, the Cotswolds have become distinctly wealthier, with house prices rising and the range of high-end hotels constantly raising the bar on luxury levels (with cinemas, exclusive use spas, dinner dishes created to personal order, and more). For my money, it comes down to three factors: accessibility; beauty – that relatively dense landscape and golden villages; and a follow-up arrangement with the famous person, who adds stardust and cool.
How did it all begin? With sheep. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest recorded use of the noun “Cotswold” was in the mid-1500s, although it is likely that the term (from “coats”, meaning an animal pen, and “wold”, for land hilly) much older. . Quite an area in the heart of England, it was within easy reach of London, the Midlands and Bristol; still, of course. Around the time that “Cotswold” first appeared as a written word, the wool trade was at its height in the area, the wealth of which led to the creation of large, handsome houses – making the glamorous hotels and stately homes of the today. illustrious, or at least very rich.
Of course, members of the Royal Family also owned estates, from Sudeley Castle to Woodstock Palace, which was the forerunner of the gargantuan Blenheim house. In pockets this was an area for the glitterati: in 1681 Charles II brought his court to Burford, mainly to go to the horse races at the then flourishing course five miles from the small town.
Artists came. In the 19th century, William Morris rented Broadway Tower as an eccentric holiday home and leased the 17th century manor house at Kelmscott.
But in the early part of the 20th century the Cotswolds were a hinterland. Lawrence Lee Cider with Rosie it tells about rural poverty in the Slad valley in the 1920s. At the same time, and at the other end of the social scale, the Mitford sisters lived in the northern Cotswolds; and the youngest, “Debo”, loved the area, Jessica and the others often referred to their village, Swinbrook, as Swinebrook and saw it as a desolate backwater.
Even in the 1980s there was a lack of sophistication; A friend in Moreton-in-Marsh remembers how the only decent restaurant in the area at the time was the Marsh Goose (it’s now replaced by an ASK Italian outlet but there are plenty of other food options). So when did the Cotswolds get their modern treasure?
When Carole Bamford’s hugely expensive Daylesford Organic farm shop was set up in 2002, it wasn’t so much about nobility as it was about making money. The same year, the Cowley Manor hotel opened near Cheltenham, delighting critics with its new brand of funky stylishness. Fast forward to 2015 when the opening of the stunningly bucolic Soho Farmhouse confirmed the Cotswolds as the ultimate English playground.
The region has quietly attracted some people in the public eye, such as Pam Ayres and Jilly Cooper, but now celebrities have bought into the Cotswolds seemingly in droves; among them, Amanda Holden in 2012, the Beckhams in 2016, and Simon Cowell in 2021. The emerging summer festivals also made a big splash: Wilderness in Cornbury Park and The Big Festival, on the farm of bassist Alex James. , both started in 2011.
But has all this influence tarnished the Cotswolds? Has it become too busy, too commercial? That really depends on where you choose to go. It’s like parallel universes in the Cotswolds. Avoid the honey traps like Stow-on-the-Wold, Burford, Bibury and Bourton-on-the-Water (where in May this year the residents hit the headlines when they remonstrated against the arrival of tourism and parking chaos ) and perfectly possible. to reach charming, quiet villages, often hidden down tiny, odd lanes.
My neighbour, Elaine, now in her 60s, has lived near Chipping Norton all her life and was ambivalent when I asked her about tourism, saying that while our village is still “lovely and tranquil”, so good as it was to many. For many years, the village pub has been a different story. It was sold and restored several years ago and is now a sleek and upscale venue like many others in the area. “That’s a shame for the local community,” she said.
On the contrary, for Sue Heady, a former London PR executive who came to live in the Cotswolds 16 years ago, there are positives in that “the type of high-end Cotswold tourism has really boosted the quality of pubs and restaurants , and there is cosmopolitan. , a fake happening in many places that used to be a bit despicable”. But there is a big negative, too. “The biggest change,” she said, “is the explosion of weekend and holiday letting, and this has destroyed the community in many villages. Suddenly, you don’t have a next-door neighbor, but an endless stream of transient strangers.”
Meanwhile, on a bank or school holiday, anyone who tries to drive along the A361 just south of Chipping Norton will almost certainly find themselves in a serious tailback, with parked cars strewn along the side of the road. Since the start of series three of Amazon Prime’s Clarkson Farm, the queues to Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat farm shop are now the stuff of legend. However, some nearby residents are responding generously.
Cotswolds community champion John Culll pointed out that while Farmer Clarkson isn’t exactly the flavor of the month for many people in the area, he is tuning into the local spirit “by getting local characters to join us brilliantly: Kaleb, Gerald – and these are true. Cotswold people dealing with real issues.” But when it comes to the true Cotswold identity, Cull said, there is so much to be gained from the hotspot destinations, of which Diddly Squat has become a leader. “If you’re curious, go explore and talk to the locals; you get a taste of the soul of the Cotswolds,” he said.
Whether nearby Bourton-on-the-Water will be able to hold enough souls remains to be seen. Clarkson is rumored to be angling to run the Coach and Horses pub near the already beleaguered village and opposite his Hawkstone brewery. Dating from the 18th century, the building is in poor shape, and Clarkson is said to be keen to invest – and support local farming by serving locally produced food. Of course the local council is worried that the access roads would not be successful. And, anyway, is the car park big enough to kill vehicles unnecessarily?
Whatever the arguments and the outcome, the current concerns seem to be a far cry from the pastoral, sheep days of the Cotswolds.
