by No stranger to attention in the Cotswolds. The bucolic region, which was given National Landscape status in 1966, has long been a “bucket” destination for many travellers; the golden-hued villages and the wall-lined fields of ancient stones are a picture of British rural romance. But most visitors to the Cotswolds head to a tiny handful of places, such as Bourton-on-the-Water, Stow-on-the-Wold and Broadway.
These are all fine examples of great Cotswold villages, but they are too crowded, too low, and all located in Gloucestershire or Worcestershire. Beeline for the Bourtons and Broadways and you’ll miss out on a whole corner of the Cotswolds quietly brimming with brilliance: it’s time to finally give the Oxfordshire Cotswolds the attention it deserves.
Naturally, this region attracts visitors. But those visiting the far east of the Cotswold tend to congregate in two main places: Woodstock to tour the behemoth that is Blenheim Palace, and Burford with its steep high street. Firstly, plenty of tourists will only see the Duke of Marlborough’s fine estate, missing the delightful working town next door, and the second is still easy to spot if you’re cruising up the A40 with Cheltenham in your part. views.
Everything else in between – from tiny chocolate box villages that could put the likes of Bibury and Broadway to shame, to upgraded hotels and restaurants that give London a run for its money – has little to do with mass tourism. into the common parts. of this National Landscape. But maybe not for long – this neglected part of the Cotswolds is full of new things that are well worth the detour, and plenty of other things that have been here for a long time, just waiting with their place in the public eye.
Undoubtedly, the most famous recent development is Estelle Manor, a gargantuan resort situated in and around the mansion just outside Witney and the borders of the Cotswolds. You might recognize his name from Maison Estelle, London’s creepy secretive private members club owned by entrepreneur Sharan Pasricha. At their new Oxfordshire venue, there are 108 bedrooms, a handful of luxury villas on site, a heated outdoor pool, padel and tennis courts, an archery range, a kids’ club, a high-tech AI-powered gym and soon a gym. a bath house to open that promises to be a cut above any other spa in the area. It’s worth it White Lotus location.
Don’t be fooled into thinking you’ll just drop in for lunch at one of the three restaurants, though, or enjoy a day trip to the spa. This is a guest and overnight members only affair, so you’ll have to stump up your room (from £450 in low season), or get on the waiting list to become a paying member for £3,600 a year. – plus the £500 membership fee. Sound a little familiar? That’s because Estelle Manor isn’t the only private members’ club to make a new home in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds: Soho House arrived here in 2015 and has been turning out non-members ever since.
Fortunately, not all places are so exclusive in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds, as I discovered during the January morning I spent with the vivacious Victoria Proffitt-White. An Oxfordshire local from Long Hanborough, she has been running tours in the Cotswolds since 2021. Cotswold Teacup Tours does not limit itself to trips to the Oxfordshire enclave, but is now a regular feature on Proffitt’s most popular itineraries- White because there aren’t many. interesting places to visit. “I’ll go to Bourton if I have to,” she told me, “but I try to steer people away from the more popular areas.”
It was a lovely Saturday morning when she picked me up in her red and white VW minivan and took me for an early walk to Dublin church. It’s certainly not an exclusive site – anyone can visit it and it’s a delightful 40 minute walk from Burford – but it felt like it was ours that day, as there wasn’t a soul to be seen apart from two dog walkers. their prancing, fleece-swaddled whistles.
“The church was part of a whole community back in the medieval period, but it was largely destroyed during the plague in the 1300s and now this is the only complete structure left,” she told me as we surveying rolling pastures that were marked from time to time. a ruined house. This is one of the many places she will take visitors looking for a slice of the “real” Cotswolds, and she says this corner of Oxfordshire is the best place to find that.
Heading back to Burford, we bumped into Deputy Mayor Michael Taubenheim outside his eccentric Greyhounds Bed and Breakfast, which has some of the best gardens in all of the Cotswolds. He told me how the town, which had long sold itself as the “gateway to the Cotswolds”, had once been situated along a major highway and was once prosperous, but in the 1800s a bypass was built and the pubs and coaching stores abandoned. decreasing. Today, however, he says, things are getting worse, with 64 of the town’s 68 shops run by independents – including five of his own – attracting many visitors to their high street.
“Last year was my busiest year ever,” he told me. Maybe it’s the Estelle Manor effect, or maybe it’s because visitors to the Cotswolds are sick of shuffling around with the crowds and want something different. That’s the word Richard Martin used to describe him when I visited his shops and displays at Cotswold Woolen Weavers.
“West Oxfordshire has always been different,” he told me. “It’s very beautiful, but it’s a place of work. There are some people who like that chocolate box thing and don’t care if it’s rammed with people and it’s artificial in some ways, but there are people who like the idea of coming to a place that’s really beautiful and the -nice, but it’s actually more true.”
You can still get a box of chocolate out here, too, though. Villages such as Churchill, Kingham and Minister Lovell are just as nice as their Gloucestershire counterparts. Burford deserves its own version of chocolate box charm, partly thanks to the 19th century bypass – the Victorians barely paid any attention to the town after the new road was built, meaning it remained enough for its 16th and 17th century buildings. without touching
And probably the most exciting new opening in all of Oxfordshire: Bull. Not the Bull. Not Bull in Burford. Just Bull, an 18-room hotel from the mind of PR mogul Matthew Freud – a Burford local since 2008 – opened in late 2023 and has a tendency to do things differently, just like the rest of the county.
Its corridors are plastered with stunning artworks from Grayson Perry and Damien Hirst, including the controversial artist’s chess board that you can sit on on your way up to your room, and has a kind of organic luxury feel to it. bedrooms for them, with a few unusual touches (hello, wardrobe wine fridge).
Hiro’s omakase restaurant has a 10-course tasting menu, Wild is an all-weather outdoor fire-based dining experience (under a canvas cover), and a communal dining concept restaurant called Horn is only open on Friday and Saturday nights and Sundays for lunch The property has brought a new level of innovative hospitality to a chocolate box-worthy Cotswolds town.
Left-field luxury aside, most of us just want a cozy pub, and the Oxfordshire Cotswolds have plenty of pubs. The Lionheart Group has three exciting gangs worth a visit, all well-loved by their local communities in Churchill, Ascott-under-Wychwood and Salford – even on a lazy Friday night in January, it was in his jostle to get a table at the Black Horse. . And in Woodstock, if you can tear yourself away from Blenheim’s sepia palace or, better yet, swing it altogether, the Back Lane Tavern is great serving internationally inspired small plates.
Combine all this with some great local attractions, such as the ancient Rollright Stones or the North Leigh Roman Villa, or the FarmED complex with its regenerative farming and growth feed into its own excellent little cafe (come on a Friday for guided tour), and there’s a lot to love in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds.
In fact, there are so many here, I would go so far as to say that there is little need to do business beyond the county’s borders. Sure, Bourton may have all those beautiful bridges, but when there’s the awful luxury of Estelle Manor, the quirk of Greyhounds and Bull in Burford, and all those charming country pubs – plus a chance to stop off in a city great Oxford on the way here. – why bother? I wouldn’t. Instead, you’ll find me playing chess by the fire at Taurus.
Fundamentals
Where to stay
Bull in Burford (bullburford.com) is by far the most promising new accommodation in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds with doubles from £300 including breakfast. For something a little lower, the Black Horse in Salford (lionhearth.co.uk/the-black-horse) has a lovely self-catering cottage in the beer garden from £185 a night including a breakfast hamper – it too. it also offers a grill-based menu and serves the best Hasselback potatoes outside of Sweden. The Swan at Ascott-under-Wychwood (lionhearth.co.uk/the-swan) offers reasonably priced rooms from £99 per night including breakfast.
Where to eat
The Bull in Charlbury gets rave reviews from locals for its flame-grilled dishes. A Sunday roast at The Checkers in pretty Churchill is a must, while the Kingham Plow and Feathered Nest Country Inn are two other local pubs to recommend.
Getting around
Charlbury train station has direct links to London and there are transfers if you are staying at Bull. Driving to and around the Cotswolds is easy but parking is difficult. Bespoke tours by Victoria Proffitt-White of Cotswold Teacup Tours (cotswoldteacuptours.com) cost from £425 for six people and offer an insightful and stress-free experience.
