Cars, clobber and countryside: How to do the Cotswolds properly

If the A-list electoral roll is anything to go by, the Cotswolds shouldn’t need selling as a place to live, but what about a weekend getaway destination?

Under 80 miles from central London, the region spanning six counties has been many things over the years – wedding backdrop, celebrity bolthole, filming location for everything from MobLand and Rivals to Clarkson’s Farm and The Gentleman – but it’s increasingly becoming a bougie escape close enough to the capital.

A trip to this area of outstanding natural beauty (yes, Sir David Beckham and Kate Moss reside here) takes planning, so I’m embarking on a best-in-class winter escape, taking in the newest boutique hotel, a driving route that actually feels special, and a lunch stop worth detouring for.

The twist? I’m doing it in a McLaren Artura hybrid supercar, but everything here works just as well if you arrive by train and hire a car. In true British countryside fashion, the Cotswolds reward attention rather than speed or bravado. The roads are narrow and the villages tightly stitched, so pleasure comes from rhythm rather than pace. In practice, the Artura is near-silent electric running through rural communities — a far cry away from Toad of Toad Hall's screaming banger. The Cotswolds have a way of flattening excess, anyway, which oddly makes it such a good place to test anything high-end.

Boutique hotels worth the splurge

Don’t worry if you don’t have a Soho House Farmhouse or Estelle Manor membership, because boutique hotels worth the splurge are increasingly popping up. The Pig-in the Cotswolds and House of George W. Davies have recently opened doors, while The Wild Duck Inn follows suit this spring.

I’m staying at the Hyll Hotel, a 14th-century manor house hotel which opened in September. What this place gets right is restraint. The epitome of quiet luxury, it’s the sort of place where naps are encouraged, and you feel instantly at home. Rooms seem lived-in rather than styled, and public spaces are designed for lingering. This makes it well-suited to a weekend escape, where the goal is to decompress and very little is demanded of you.

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The design favours comfort over spectacle, the service is present without hovering, and the overall tone is reassuringly analogue, right down to the vinyl listening room.

Catching up with co-owners Paul Baker and Sarah Ramsbottom, the pair tell me too many high-end luxury hotels are performative.

“You almost feel like you’re on your best behaviour. Like the hotel is at the forefront, not the guest,” adds Ramsbottom. “The brief to the interior designers was to create spaces where guests feel comfortable enough to fall asleep in a chair.”

A driving route that feels special

A mistake most people make with a Cotswolds drive is chasing postcard villages, so McLaren created a 60-mile route for me that does the opposite. Leaving Hyll Hotel, it threads together quieter B-roads, soft elevation changes and long, unshowy stretches where the landscape does the work for you.

Hedgerows give way to open farmland, villages appear gradually rather than all at once, and the roads flow just enough to feel considered without tipping into drama. Put the car's Bowers & Wilkins sound system to the test with some mid-winter tunes, and with the outside world and Clarkson's farm soundproofed away, overtaking the odd tractor is about as consequential as it gets.

Aside from affording you time to realise just what an easy car the Artura is to drive – even in the wet – you also realise the Cotswolds works regardless of whatever you’re driving. The Highlands, this is not.

A lunch stop to justify the detour

It’s enough to make anyone feel peckish, so I’ve stopped at Daylesford Farm for lunch. Included here are three farm-to-fork cafés: The Legbar, The Old Spot, and The Trough (holder of a Green Michelin star for four years running).

Dishes include everything from fisherman’s pie with a hen’s egg and buttered winter greens, organic chicken with kale and spicy glazed pecans, and a woodland mushroom, leek and brie tart.

Arrive late morning or mid-afternoon, and you’ll feast on food that’s grounded, seasonal, and as fresh as it gets. Think unfussy plates, well-made coffee, and a sense you’re pausing the day rather than interrupting it. That is, unless you opt to check out the wellness spa or cookery school while there. Londoners, if the name sounds familiar, Daylesford also run eateries in Brompton Cross, Notting Hill and Pimlico.

Doing it without the supercar

A Cotswolds getaway doesn’t depend on a McLaren, even if you’d be prising the Artura away from my cold, dying hands. Arrive by train into Moreton-in-Marsh, Kemble, Stroud or Cheltenham Spa, pick up a hire car, and the pleasures don’t suddenly evaporate. Hotels still encourage inertia, driving routes still reward patience, and lunch will always be served, perhaps even earned. Check out The Great British Train Sale on until 12th January and you may even find a ‘bargain’ fare.

What you lose is theatre; what you gain is perspective. The Cotswolds isn’t a place to be conquered. It wants to be noticed, then left alone, and perhaps we can all relate to that. Do it well, and the weekend becomes restorative with fewer plans and better sleep. Whether you arrive with carbon fibre or a key fob from the hire desk, the takeaway is the same.

Clobber for the Cotswolds

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