Upper Slaughter, Gloucestershire · Hotel
A 17th-century former rectory in eight acres of gardens at Upper Slaughter, with a three AA rosette restaurant and four AA red stars.
Lords of the Manor occupies a seventeenth-century rectory in Upper Slaughter, one of the quietest of the well-known Cotswold villages and one that has changed remarkably little in a century. The house sits in eight acres of gardens and parkland running down to the River Eye, with a lake, walled kitchen garden and views out to open countryside on every side. There is no through traffic and very little to do in the village itself, which is entirely the point.
Bedrooms are spread through the original house and a converted courtyard. They range from small classic doubles to the larger Lords Rooms in the oldest part of the building, which have king-size beds and look over the front garden towards the fields. Decoration is country-house rather than contemporary: antiques, heavy fabrics, good linen. Bathrooms have been updated throughout. The house is old, so room shapes and sizes differ a lot and it is worth discussing options at the time of booking.
The restaurant is the reason many people come. It holds three AA rosettes and has been a serious fine-dining destination for years, with tasting menus alongside a shorter carte and a wine list of real depth. Breakfast is cooked to order and taken looking out over the garden. There is a comfortable drawing room and bar for pre-dinner drinks, and afternoon tea in the garden in summer.
The hotel holds four AA red stars and is consistently placed among the top country-house hotels in Britain, with guest ratings around 9.3 out of 10. It suits couples and special occasions rather than families with young children, and walkers will find footpaths to Lower Slaughter and on to Bourton-on-the-Water directly from the grounds. Bed and breakfast doubles start from around 244 pounds, with the larger rooms and peak weekends considerably higher.