Cotswolds, Travel, Where to stay

Cotswold House Hotel & Spa Cottage Stay, Chipping Campden

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Through our blog, Ellie & I had previously done various collaborations with the company that owns Cotswold House, Chipping Campden. When we recently booked ourselves in again, this time as paying customers, we got upgraded from a basic double room to a luxury cottage. (The pictures in this post are not aligned with the text.) BASIC DOUBLE ROOMS VS. COTTAGE STAY AT COTSWOLD HOUSE, CHIPPING CAMPDEN The basic double rooms are usually between £100 and £235 per night. On quite another level, the luxurious cottages, called ‘suites’ at Cotswold House Hotel & Spa, start from £375 and go up to about £550. Unless you manage to get your hands on one of the discounts or cash rewards (usually 10 to 20%) advertised every now and then on their website.     1st & 3rd pic: front of CHH&S, middle: our cottage BEST PRICE MATCH AT COTSWOLD HOUSE, CHIPPING CAMPDEN Very […]

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Cotswolds, Restaurants

The Porch House, Stow – Fabulous Food at England’s Oldest Inn

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During our recent visit to the Cotswolds, The Porch House in Stow-on-the-Wold very kindly invited us to try their food. We had visited before, even though only for a couple of drinks, and remembered the beautiful, rustic atmosphere of England’s oldest inn (built in 947 AD, with a few oak beams and bricks remaining; most of today’s building is from the 16th Century). After a morning of driving around the countryside in a convertible 1988 Jaguar XJS we were hungry and quick to make our choices on the food: smoked mackerel pate with paprika mayonnaise & grapefruit gel (£7), pan-roasted scallops with pea puree, roasted sweetcorn, and blood pudding (£11) for starters, chicken mushroom leek pie with crushed potatoes, glazed mixed beets, Cheltenham carrots & tender stem broccoli (£16), and an 8oz Dexter Beef Burger with chips for mains (£15), as well as chocolate delice with pistachio crumb, candied orange […]

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Cotswolds, Fun, London, Travel

24 hours in the Cotswolds with a 1980s Jaguar convertible

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We had been planning a day of driving a 1973 Jensen Interceptor III (my favourite car) through the Cotswolds for years. Twice something had gone wrong (accidental double-booking, motor malfunction), so, surely, we thought: third time lucky. But apparently not so. We received an email from the car rental firm, Great Escape Cars, a couple of days before the big day to tell us that a client had totalled the Jensen (luckily no harm to humans, unless you count the emotional pain this was causing me). We were offered a number of replacement cars and a 1988 convertible Jaguar XJS 4 litre V12 turned out to be the best option. We tucked the 1970s outfits, that we had been planning to wear, away and went back to the vintage clothes store for something a tad more 1980s. After all it is a well-known fact that no one is allowed to […]

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Cotswolds, Restaurants

The Queen’s Head in Stow-on-the-Wold

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During our recent trip to the Cotswolds Ms B and I stopped at the Queen’s Head Inn in Stow-on-the-Wold to grab a quick bite. The pub, located in a beautiful old building on the Square, is owned by the Donnington Brewery, ranked #9 out of 30 Stow restaurants on Tripadvisor, with a Certificate of Excellence thrown in on top for good measure.      We ordered fish of the week (£13.95), pan-fried salmon with boiled potatoes in this case, and an 8oz Ribeye Steak with chips (£16). We enjoyed our meals in the yard outside on the back of the building. Both the salmon and the steak were decent, nothing out of the ordinary, but pleasant enough. We loved the old building and the quirky way in which it is decorated inside, including, among others a massive porcelain Queen’s head statue. Service was quick and friendly.    Looking for more […]

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Cotswolds, Travel, Where to stay

Noel Arms Hotel, Chipping Campden, Our Review

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We had previously stayed at the Noel Arms on more than one occasion and always enjoyed ourselves. We also recently did a sponsored review of the sister hotel just across the street, the Cotswold House Hotel & Spa and their upmarket restaurant, the Fig. Chipping Campden is one of our favourite destinations in the Cotswolds and we try to come for an extended weekend several times a year. This time around, we visited with my wife, Ms B’s, parents, who are currently visiting from Sydney. Upon arrival, the friendly and professional receptionist at this lovely 3-star inn on the Cotswolds Way quickly checked us in and showed us to our room. Our last-minute request to change my wife’s elderly parents’ room so that it is more comfortable and quicker for them to reach from the entrance, was met with a smile and a ‘no problem’. A few minutes later we […]

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