Exploring England’s “Fair and Pleasant Land” in the Northern Cotswolds While Staying at the Farncombe Estate
- Martin Hesp
- 2 days ago
- 8 min read
Updated: 16 hours ago
It was William Blake who wrote about “England’s fair and pleasant land…” He used the phrase to add contrast to the “dark satanic mills” of the early industrial revolution, but the concept still works today given the steady urbanisation of our landscapes.
I was thinking this as we drove through the Cotswolds the other day. The thought — and the pleasant surroundings we were passing through — inspired me to repeat in my mind something I’ve been musing over for the past year or so… That one of things you can enjoy when you’ve reached retirement age (or semi-retirement in my case) is the time and ability to explore your own country.
Where We Stayed in the Northern Cotswolds
Dormy House Hotel, Farncombe Estate
Dormy House is a luxurious country house hotel set high on the Cotswold escarpment above Broadway. Known for its “farmhouse chic” interiors, roaring fires and the celebrated House Spa, it recently secured a top-20 placing in the Condé Nast Traveler awards. Guests can stay in stylish rooms, suites and converted barns, some with private outdoor hot tubs.
The Fish Hotel, Farncombe Estate
The Fish offers a more adventurous style of countryside escape with luxury treehouses, woodland hideaways and shepherd’s huts scattered across the slopes above Broadway. Its restaurant, The Hook, serves a seafood-inspired menu featuring dishes such as Cornish mussels and charcoal-cooked market fish.
When you’re working full-time you tend, if you can afford it, to use your holiday periods for something special. You might worry about inclement weather so you pack your family on a plane and fly off to guaranteed sunshine. Now, though, a person like me (and a million like me, including a great many readers of this newspaper) can find that we’ve a lot more time on our hands — so why not explore our own fair and pleasant land?
Why Staycations in England Are More Popular Than Ever
This notion was underlined when we reached our destination up on the north-western edge of the Cotswolds. We had been invited to stay at two different establishments on the Farncombe Estate — an elegant hotel and a rather intriguing location featuring luxurious shepherd’s huts and other intriguing abodes set in a forest — and both were impressively filled with happy customers despite the fact it was early March.
It’s worth repeating an email I received last week from a company that specialises in analysing trends in the travel industry. It said the most popular search word at present is the term “staycation”, which is not exactly surprising given happenings in the Middle East and daily TV reports showing airport queues filled with people desperate to get home.
The Cotswolds National Landscape
So it was very pleasant indeed to find ourselves tootling through the Cotswolds — the quintessential heart of “middle England” — a landscape so distinctive it was designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in 1966.
Now officially known as the Cotswolds National Landscape, it spans nearly 800 square miles (it is the largest AONB in England and Wales) and stretches across six counties from just south of Stratford-upon-Avon down to Bath.
The name is a marriage of history and geography. While “Cots” probably refers to an old word for sheep pens (or maybe a Saxon landowner named Cod), a “wold” is an Old English term for high, open unwooded hills or rolling upland.
Which describes the region perfectly — a limestone escarpment of honey-coloured stone with villages nestled into “folds” and “wolds”.
Along the AONB’s high western edge, the views across the Severn Vale extend away towards the Malvern Hills, and where the escarpment eventually curves east around its northern corner, you can see the Vale of Evesham stretching into the mists of the Midlands proper.
It’s at this north western corner that we found the Farncombe Estate — a 500-acre multi-tiered destination which is rapidly gaining a world-class reputation.
Staying at Farncombe Estate: Dormy House and The Fish Hotel
The estate, in short, is a bit of a chameleon, offering all things to all men and women. You get a different flavour of hospitality depending on which of its entities you visit or stay at.
We were booked for a two-night stay to sample two of the three main establishments, starting with Dormy House — a classic country house hotel located right at the top of the estate.
The PR people describe it as “farmhouse-chic (all about roaring log fires and sumptuous interiors). Yep… I’d go along with that — and so would other travel journalists more qualified than me. Dormy House recently scooped a top-20 spot in the Condé Nast Traveler awards.
The hotel’s House Spa was described as a “Scandi-style sanctuary where you can drift between an outdoor hot tub and a thermal suite — perfect for soaking away the damp of a Cotswold mist.”
We spent a night in one of the hotel’s comfortable converted barns, which happened to have its own private outdoor hot-tub. So I did just that.
A nippy Cotswold mist had rolled in just after our arrival, so I duly whipped off the cover and sank everything but the Hesp eyes and lengthy nose into the hot and warming bubbles. There is something altogether opulent about observing horrible weather from the depths of a hot-tub with all the jets blasting.
This not very exhausting interlude was followed by a rather opulent and extremely tasty dinner in the Dormy House dining room. Which was where I discovered that we weren’t the only ones up there in the March mists of the Cotswold escarpment.
Every table in the sizeable dining room was taken. Maybe it was to do with the Condé Nast award, but when you see that kind of popularity you know the establishment is doing something right.
Exploring the Northern Cotswolds Villages
After a comfortable night and a magnificent breakfast fit for one of the old kings of Mercia, the morning mists evaporated and we did a day’s exploring around the northern Cotswolds.
Despite the famous names of some of the pretty towns and villages, neither my wife or I had ever been to this neck of the woods before and, needless to say, we liked the area very much.
Not so much for the countryside. Nice. Beautiful, I’m sure, if you live in the middle of Birmingham. But if you reside in the West Country peninsula somewhere like Exmoor National Park, then you’re rather spoiled when it comes to stunning scenery.
However, the aforementioned towns and villages are an absolute joy.
To explore the north-western fringes of the Cotswolds is to move through a landscape where the geology dictates the architecture. Everything built by human hand is born of that warm, oolitic limestone that seems to hold the evening light.
Stow-on-the-Wold
We began by driving 15 minutes down (and temporarily back into the mist) to famous Stow-on-the-Wold, a town built by, and for, the wool trade and positioned at an intersection betwixt the valleys and uplands.
I say “famous” because you only have to spend two minutes there to realise this is one of the AONB’s main tourism honeypots.
It was filled with Americans and folk from somewhere east of India on a chilly March day — goodness knows what it must be like in summer.
The market square speaks of a time when 20,000 sheep would change hands in a single afternoon. The massive church speaks of all the money that must have been made back in those happy woolly days.
Despite the crowds and gift shops, I liked Stow.
Moreton-in-Marsh
From there, it was north to Moreton-in-Marsh, which sits in the Evenlode Valley.
Unlike the huddle of its neighbour, Moreton is broad and linear — a classic coaching stop on the old Roman Fosse Way where the wide High Street still feels like a place of transit and trade.
Chipping Campden
Turning back towards the hills, Chipping Campden boasts what is sometimes said to be the finest high street in England — a long, curved ribbon, honey-stone affair that was bathed in the midday winter sun.
This charming town feels preserved, but not fossilised. Despite being prettier than the previous stops, there were far fewer tourists, but the place was buzzing nevertheless with local folk coming hither and thither.
I bought a very good homemade pork pie and sat on a bench in the main street watching this very pleasant world go by while my wife dipped in and out of the shops.
Broadway
Finally, we wound our way across to Broadway, tucked under the lee of the hills and situated directly beneath the main Farncombe Estate.
It is the “show village” of the north-Cotswold-Evesham-Vale region — an undeniably handsome little place — again, teeming with visitors enjoying the rare afternoon sunshine.
But a different mix of visitors here — I’d say these were mainly British tourists enjoying a day out in the wide and pretty main street with all its eateries and shops.
For me the magic occurred when I looked back up toward the ‘wolds’ to see the high ground we’d just traversed. And also to see the woodlands of the Farncombe Estate which were to play host to the second half of our visit.
Staying at The Fish Hotel
The Fish has been described as “quirky and playful”.
If Dormy House is the refined elder sister, The Fish is the adventurous younger sibling.
Located up on the slopes you can see from Broadway, it is a collection of “hideaway huts” and luxury treehouses tucked into the woodlands which surround a central hub where you find the reception and a rather lovely spacious restaurant.
We were in one of the double-shepherds’ huts and very cosy it was too with its wood burning stove and hot tub.
I particularly liked the “sunshine roof” above the bed — and lay there watching the moon climb above the waving branches of the trees.
Dining at The Hook Restaurant
A word about the restaurant.
The Hook, as it’s called, offers a sophisticated but unpretentious take on seafood.
Under the guidance of culinary director Martin Burge, the kitchen offers a “coastal-inspired” menu — which is odd when you think that it’s almost as far from the sea as anywhere in the UK.
Cornish mussels, Porthilly oysters, and whole-market fish cooked over charcoal.
Despite the distance from salty water, it does seafood as well as any coastal restaurant I’ve visited.
My gurnard, braised octopus and cuttlefish in a bouillabaisse sauce was a triumph. Clean, unfussy, with all the right flavours showing through.
All served in a bright, open space which at breakfast turned out to enjoy vast views of the vale beyond.
By the way, all this splendour at the Farncombe Estate proved to be wonderfully “unstuffy”. We were able to take our dog and The Fish even has a dedicated “pooch playground”.
Foxhill Manor
Our two nights did not include a stay at the estate’s Foxhill Manor — the Grade II listed manor house that was recently named the Number One Hotel in the UK, which is no small feat for a house with just eight bespoke bedrooms.
Oh well. Maybe next time.
Which is quite possible now I have time to explore my own fair and pleasant land.
Travel Information
The Fish Hotel is running a “Kids Stay Free” offer in Easter holidays and May half term, and Dormy House currently has a Spring Escape offer.
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