Travel diaries: A weekend away in the Cotswolds
A couple of weeks ago now, I went and spent a weekend down in the Cotswolds with Harry (the boyfriend). I’ve wanted to go for ages, ever since I first watched The Holiday actually. We originally just planned to book a hotel for the Sunday night but then decided to make the most of the weekend and booked an AirBnB for the Saturday night. It then turned out to be a bit of an exploration of multiple Cotswold villages, in which I thought I would share the places we visited.
Hook Norton
We found the perfect AirBnB in a little village called Hook Norton. It was located up on a hill looking over the village with stunning views of the fields and contained the cutest cottage like interior. Despite being out in the country and encountering a million spiders, it was perfect for our first night. We arrived late afternoon as we had a quick trip to Bicester Village on our way up so when we arrived we then ventured down the hill into the village and found the local pub, The Sun Inn. We enjoyed baked camembert for starter and pub classics for main with wine before then having the venture all the way back up the hill in the dark, which was quite an effort to say the least! On the Sunday morning we enjoyed fresh chickens eggs from the owners chickens for breakfast and then decided to explore more of the village before heading on to our next location.
We didn’t plan this village in to our plans originally but the owner of our Hook Norton stay recommended to stop of whilst travelling to our hotel. A much livelier village but still with an admirable view of cottages and the unique Cotswolds brickwork. We enjoyed a non expensive afternoon tea in a sweet little tearoom in the main square, despite fighting off all the wasps from the jam on our scones. We also had a drink in the oldest hotel in Britain, The Porch House, which has been around since the 10th century and still holds its historic essence with its wonky door frames and ceilings. It was a perfect scenic pub to enjoy a drink in before heading to the next village.
This was our main plan of our trip. We stayed just outside Broadway village in a hotel called The Fish Hotel, which I had actually found through Instagram and I can understand why with its Instagrammable decor. Again, we turned up late afternoon to check into our room for the night. The great thing about this hotel is the variety of rooms you can stay in, they have treehouses, a boathouse and hidden huts. We stayed in one of their smaller huts which held the decor of old fashioned danish interior.
With a decking to sit on and view over Broadway village, as well as a log fire and an outdoor jacuzzi. We enjoyed prosecco in the jacuzzi before heading down to the restaurant for dinner which may not look like big portions but were incredible. Seaweed butter with homemade bread and seaweed salted chips were my favourite. After dinner we then sat on their outdoor decking with night lights and a jug of Aperol Spritz. One of the most amazing hotels I’ve ever stayed in and I wish we could have stayed longer but I’m sure we will go back and hopefully enjoy their treehouse…
Broadway
After enjoying the hotel and a big breakfast on Monday morning, we headed to the village of Broadway. This was my favourite village. It was just so pretty to look at and walk around, delivering the true picture you imagine of the Cotswolds. There was plenty of cute independent shops and country pubs to enjoy without the busyness of a city centre. We ventured around and admired the streets for a bit, as well as enjoying an iced mocha before then saying goodbye to the Cotswolds and heading back home.
