Travel - Little Cotswold Cottage and Summer in The Cotswolds

August 17, 2017


Last week we took another little staycation. This time to The Cotswolds. The Cotswolds are one of our very favourite areas of the UK. Chocolate box villages, rolling fields and the farm shop of all farm shops - Daylesford. I mean, I love the seaside but The Cotswolds is always the perfect short break from us as it's only just over an hour away so you don't feel like you're wasting half the day in the car to get there. We stayed in Little Cotswold Cottage - an insanely beautiful boutique cottage in Great Rolling {just ten minutes from both Soho Farmhouse and Daylesford}. The location was amazing and so was the weather - being England we experienced both a pouring with rain day {perfect for cosying up} and then a bright sunshine day. I'd love to share more photos below if you'd like to see.

I found Little Cotswold Cottage on Instagram {where else these days?!} and have long admired all the little details and quirky features that Zara, the owner, has created. There's a bathroom sink made out of a Singer sewing machine, a kitchen crafted from reclaimed wood and a rolltop in the bedroom!


Zara very kindly invited Ben and I to stay for a couple of nights so we bagsed the last couple of available dates in August {book in advance, this cottage is popular!} and drove there last Wednesday. We spent the morning at Daylesford and Burford garden centre avoiding the torrential rain {more on the local area below} and then arrived to this oasis. I was greeted with a bunch of the most beautiful blooms by Tiger & Tail, a local florist. We'd already fallen in love with the cottage at this point from the wisteria clad Cotswold honey coloured stone exterior so this was the icing on the cake.


The snug lounge was beautifully cosy, clad in panelling and with old wooden beams {Ben hit his head about 5 times everyday whilst we stayed here, I woke up hearing a huge thump one morning! If you're tall you might want to duck!}. There's a Sofa.Com stylish sofa, cute window seats and a cream log burner of dreams stacked and ready to light. Just what you want from a cottage.






As if that wasn't enough, Ben's very favourite part was a little nook in the wall with an old fashioned sweet shop! With little bags to help yourself. I've had things like this in a couple of hotels {although even that is rare} so to have this in a cottage was amazing! We were also greeted with a loaf of bread and some proper butter and milk to settle in. 









We stayed cosy for that first afternoon/evening and even lit a tiny fire {in August?!} wondering where summer had gone. But we didn't mind one bit as we had a new Netflix series to start - Ozark which was really good and reminded us of Breaking Bad. There was drinking chocolate in the cupboard so we basically pretended it was Winter and stayed put!





How cute is this kitchen? It reminded us of the kitchen we'd had at Soho Farmhouse last year. Zara had it all bespokely made. You can see the before photos on her Instagram here. Copper taps and Cowshed!



Upstairs there were two levels, a very lovely second bedroom and the shower room.  



But then if you went up another level you get to the master bedroom, a really light filled loft with ther bed of dreams {I slept SO well both nights} topped with the softest White Company bedding and a rolltop bath.



I loved this room so much. 




And wanted to sneak home these gorgeous chippy paint bedsides!






We wished we could have stayed for longer, alas we had to rush back for a hospital appointment early on our last morning. This cottage would make the perfect Cotswolds base though to explore for a week or so and is just as suited to summer breaks {although there's no garden but a sunny bench out the front which I spent a couple of hours on one afternoon} to winter {hello logburner}. Zara is also in the process of renovating a Little Norfolk Cottage which I know will be just as beautiful, if not more so, than this one and I can't wait to see it all unfold. You can follow along with her Instagram account here. 

Outside the cottage we spent the rest of the time revisiting some favourite places around the Cotswolds. It feels like we've been a million times before? {previous posts here} so have seen most of the villages before, this time we just went back to a few of them.


Burford is always gorgeous, the little village on the hill with the cottage with the pink door.


We walked from the cottage around Great Rollright one evening and had allll the property porn right in front of us.




This thatched cottage is called Pooh cottage with a little Winnie the Pooh bear sitting on the roof eating honey!



I have this thing with hydrangeas and ivy walls.. Looks like Autumn in this photo.



Both Snowshill and Stow on the Wold are beautiful.



Daylesford has long been a favourite and we stopped there twice on this stay. Once for a long lunch {the food is SO good and all organic, most of it grown/reared on the farm} and a really long look around the new lifestyle shop and florist. Because it was so rainy it was nice to have no rush, nothing else on the agenda. I stood for about 20 minutes just looking through cookbooks!



And then we went back again the next morning for breakfast treats and a walk around the market garden in the sunshine before walking one of the paths around the farm.









Burford Garden Centre is always a must visit too. Again we did this when it was raining.




Daylesford's market garden. Dahlias in their cutting garden and a whole orchard full of fruit ready to pick.








It was such a beautiful morning I almost felt like we could be in the middle of America on a farm/ranch!








We stopped at Stow and they had a cute farmer's market on.





And then drove through the countryside out towards Hidcote.





Stopping at Snowshill and Broadway en route.


These villages! Too cute.






We've walked up to Broadway tower before and it's an amazing walk with views for miles at the top. This time we didn't have the right footwear after all the rain so just stayed in the villages.






So many gorgeous houses, nearly all clad in wisteria.







Our National Trust membership is about to run out so we googled gardens in the area and found Hidcote Manor Garden.


It was impressive albeit v busy on a sunny afternoon in the Summer Holidays.



Dress online here {although I think recently sold out as I can't see it anymore}. I stupidly forgot my sunglasses on this trip, it was so rainy when we left that it didn't cross my mind so I spent the next couple of days squinting! Hence why I'm not looking in this photo.



We cooked in for our first night but then went out for dinner on the second. Our fav The Wild Rabbit didn't have any availability until September! But after reading reviews, everyone recommended The Kingham Plough locally. 



I love Kingham after our stay at the Wild Rabbit {remember this post?} and whilst the Kingham Plough is almost a local institution it was v overpriced for an average meal. The pudding was amazing - a strawberry souffle - but the rest only OK. You win some, you lose some! 







We stopped the car to watch the sunset on the way back to the cottage. Oh England!





The Cotswolds are so beautiful in all seasons. But summer really shows everything in England off at her best don't you agree? Although of course Autumn is coming - look at these previous posts {here and here for autumn in the Cotswolds}. And if you haven't been before, Bath and Oxford are well worth a visit and easy to get to from here. 

Such a lovely couple of days break. Have you been? We unfortunately then went straight to a hospital appointment for Ben and had such a horrible day! More on that soon {I talked more about it on Instagram yesterday, he's had minor skin cancer removed}. 

R <3 xx 

{A huge thank you to Zara for inviting us to stay. I was a guest of Little Cotswold Cottage but as always I would never promote anywhere that I didn't truly love - because what would be the point? All opinions are my own}.

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2 comments

  1. Wow - looks quintessentially perfect England (rain included)

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a lovely article & beautiful photos xxx
    There is a new website live now for this cottage instead of Sheepskin Life - www.littlecotswoldcottage.com

    XX

    ReplyDelete

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