Londoners have prodigious appetites for a grand country hotel escape. The fresh air! The nature! The roaring log fires! Nowhere is more in-demand than the quaint honey-hued villages and sweeping estates of the Cotswolds, where us city trolls run screaming each weekend practically hyperventilating from burnout.
The options are many — from cosy pubs with rooms to reinvigorated old piles to the Insta-bait of Soho Farmhouse. How to stand out in such a competitive market? Wipe the floor with them all. At least that seems to be the mission objective of Sharan Pasricha — the 42-year-old hotelier with a magic touch and the man behind the Hoxton hotels and the new and improved Gleneagles in Scotland. He opened Mayfair private members’ club Maison Estelle in 2021 — where everyone from Angelina Jolie to royalty has been spotted exiting its discreet Grafton Street doorway. This month Pasricha opened the much- anticipated country outpost, Estelle Manor. “There’s now a lot going on in Oxfordshire and we’re happy to be here — there is ample room for everyone. A rising tide lifts all boats,” he tells me.
A hotel and members’ club in rural Oxfordshire, the action takes place in and around a Grade II-listed manor house (formerly Eynsham Hall) set within 3,000 acres of untouched glorious Cotswold-ness. So far, so classic country getaway — but the ambition of this project is staggering. There are 108 rooms, all-day dining space The Brasserie, blingtastic Chinese restaurant The Billiards Room (with a perfectly executed Nineties playlist on our visit), a kids’ club, The Clubhouse with gym, yoga studio, working space, boutique and, imminently, a George Northwood salon. Coming soon: padel courts, family-style dining restaurant The Glasshouse set within a peaceful walled vegetable garden and the Eynsham Baths — an epic Roman-inspired 3,000 sq m spa complete with marble colonnades, tepidarium and hammam. We’re told there will be a hidden pool and waterfall for late-night partying. Activities on offer include axe-throwing (trickier than it sounds, especially after a few spicy margaritas) and archery.
For members (membership is £3,600 a year) yet more treats lie behind the ochre velvet curtains at the end of the entrance hall. Here, a library, cafe, late-night drinking den and soon-to-open Japanese restaurant provide the privacy to party with abandon. No photos are allowed (staff will politely cover your phone camera with a sticker) but I can tell you the touch has not been light when it comes to the design. Roman and Williams has layered handpainted wallpaper with chequerboard floors; pink marble with bleached oak panelling; silk upholstery with tassels and Missoni zig-zags. It’s opulent, playful and spectacular. The design team scoured the globe for the antiques sourced from Italy, France, Morocco and India. The twinkling bespoke chandeliers greeting guests in the entrance hall were created by family-owned Wilkinsons of London. The art is whimsical too, with sculptures by Eric Baudart, installations by Marinella Senatore and paintings by Billy Childish.
This summer, while we cook in 30 degrees, the south terrace’s 25m swimming pool, sun loungers and bar are the only place to be. A languid afternoon spent listening to live jazz and sipping on spicy margaritas served by beautiful wait staff in jade green uniforms felt like the Riviera. Perhaps better? After all, London only is a short drive away.
Double rooms with B&B from £450, estellemanor.com
Also new to the Cotswolds this month
The Lakes by YOO Spa & Wellness Centre
By Suzannah Ramsdale
With treatments from Dr Barbara Sturm, MOSS of the ISLES and Wildsmith Skin, Lakes by YOO owners John Hitchcox and Phoebe Vela aren’t messing around. The real coup is the world’s first COSMOSS treatments created by Kate Moss herself. The spa also has an extensive menu of cryotherapy, Infrared saunas, LED and PEM therapy as well as IV drips. For the back-to-nature types, swimwear designer Melissa Obadash has created chic wild swimming suits. Coming soon, meditation and healing retreats hosted by the one and only Dr Deepak Chopra.
Apartments at The Lakes by YOO start from £1,050 per night, sleeping up to six adults, thelakesbyyoo.com
The Club by Bamford
By Dipal Acharya
It’s been five years in the making, but the latest addition to Kingham’s Daylesford village is well worth the wait. The sprawling health club is a marvel – a discreet private driveway running along the spine of Daylesford’s existing spa, shop and café leads guests and members to a veritable temple of wellness.
While the Bamford spa provides superlative massages and holistic treatments – not to mention guest residencies from super-facialist Teresa Tarmey – The Club is geared towards a more integrated approach to health and fitness. Think state-of-the-art equipment and Padel courts - well as a roster of the best physios, nutritionists (hello, Rosemary Ferguson) and breathwork coaches to support you along the way.
And thank goodness for that – after a brutal yet bracing half-hour HIIT session, I was ready to try it all. That meant a quick shimmy in the outdoor sauna and hydro plunge pool, followed by a deliciously indulgent destress massage. If this is what fitness looks like in 2023, I’m an evangelical convert.
Unsurprisingly, it’s been an instant hit with the locals (400 members and counting) looking for something a little more elevated and less parochial than the Kingham Tennis Club, but that doesn’t mean Londoners can’t get in on the action. An ‘Escape to the Farm’ membership is designed specifically for those who live outside 50-mile radius. Want to really make a weekend of it? Plump for one of the smart new Daylesford cottages in the village (we stayed in Bluebell, a charming two-bedroom version, a short 4-minute drive from the Club) and bring the whole brood along.
