WHERE: My husband and I just spent two lovely nights at Cotswald House Hotel and Spa in Chipping Camden, about 2 hours easy drive from London.
The Cotswalds are a very familiar place to me, with both of my grandmas and other family coming from there. It is such a beautiful area if you have never been, and you live in the UK, you must go! Its gorgeous, straight out of a fairy tale!
THE HOTEL: Cotswald House and Spa has 21 rooms, four junior suites and also four larger suites which are decorated individually with chic furnishings, amazing light functions (the husband was impressed with this!) designer furniture and fabrics, open fires and stunning works of art. The staircase in the main part of the building is just incredible with beautiful glass lights cascading down the middle.
OUR SUITE: We had one of the Montrose suites and my oh my was it amazing! It had three rooms, one was a sitting room complete with flat screen tv, fireplace and a comfortable plush couch. You can even rent DVD’s from their library during your stay. Having a sitting room in our suite was fantastic because it meant that we could bring coco with us, yes thats right, we were allowed to bring our dog! Cotswald House actually offer packages for bringing pets with you! The hotel will supply a doggy bed and also some treats for your pet! It meant we could put Coco in the sitting room and we could sleep peacefully without her waking us up during the night. It is truly lovely to be able to bring your pet along with you as it is a real pain having to put them in a kennel just for a few days.
The bedroom was fabulous, (see image) complete with a very large comfy bed (really room for four in there!) covered in plush pillows. What I was very impressed to see was a ‘pillow menu’. If you are a bit fussy with pillows and sleep in general (as I am, think ‘Princess and the Pea’ that’s me!) then you will be able to choose from 9 different sorts of pillows! Some natural fibres and some are synthetic. You can even choose an orthopedic pillow!
There was also a desk with comfy chair and gorgeous lighting as well as air-conditioning. And, what made it even better was there was also a private courtyard with doors leading from the bedroom to outside. This was also another bonus as it meant I could take Coco outside to go to the toilet.
Alfresco Dining – gorgeous in Spring/Summer – this was our courtyard.
As it is still quite cold over here, it wasn’t ideal to be able to go and sit outside, but during spring/summer Cotswald House is going to come alive.
They have beautiful gardens where you can go for a bit of a walk. As you can see, its stunning in warmer weather, when all of the flowers come out.
THE BEST BIT: Without a doubt our bathroom was one of the most amazing I have ever seen. I have been lucky enough to go to some pretty fancy places in my day (Venetian in Las Vegas for Honeymoon) and a place in Hollywood a few years ago, but this bathroom was by far the best.
It was so high tech with its special lighting functions (lights around therainwater shower head etc), slate floor (nice and warm), but the bath was just out of this world. Check out how enormous it is! It is made out of some kind of stone so once filled it kept its warmth. It was so big, that two people could easily fit without being cramped and when I was reading my book, I actually needed to lie width ways across because length ways was too long. What I liked about this bath, apart from the massive size was that you didnt actually need to fill it right up to the top. I found you could fill it up about 1/4 of the way and that was enough water for you to lie back and read your book with head lying on bottom of the bath. What made it even more special were the light features hanging from the roof. When the room lights were turned off, the lights above, twinkled like stars! It was truly magical and when I design my dream home, that bath is going in it! Going away to these fabulous places always gives me great ideas 
THE FOOD: Cotswald House have Juliana’s & Hick’s Brasserie to dine at, so you don’t even have to venture far from the hotel, in fact stay where you are and eat there! We had dinner at Juliana’s (3 Rosette stars) on the first night and Hick’s (4 AA red Star) for lunch on the last day we were there. I brought my Grandma and Godmother along as well and they were super impressed saying it was the best meal they had had in a long time. Because they use the same suppliers etc,
both the restaurant and brasserie’s food are fantastic quality. The food is locally sourced produce as much as possible. We ordered the vegetarian choices, and as you can see from the picture (”VegeForest”), so stunning!I overheard some of the guests say that the food here was some of the best they have ever had. Keep an eye out for their Walnut and Raison bread, that was delicious! The desserts were truly amazing as well. I found it very hard to be ‘good’ whilst there. The presentation of their food is some of the best I have seen. Hick’s Brasserie on Sunday was fabulous as well.
You can also order traditional english afternoon teas.
THE STAFF: The staff at Cotswald House are very good. Very efficiant and pleasant and well trained. Cotswald house is not necessarily somewhere you would go to meet others, its more for a romantic getaway, but you can take your children there too. I wouldn’t recommend that though when you have a big bath like I did, you want that all to yourself and to have some peace and quiet!
ACTIVITIES: There are loads of stunning places to go for walks around the hotel. Chipping Camden is a very small little village so in no time you will be meandering through the gorgeous parklands. We went for a drive around (too cold for walking) the village and it looked gorgeous, even in winter.
The hotel also holds special events with guest speakers, famous authors and ‘cook offs’ with well known chefs.
TEMPLE SPA: My favorite part of staying away is having spa treatments! Behind Cotswald House, near the back of the garden, lies Temple Spa. It is a fantastic spa that guests can use and is also open to the general public. It’s open 7 days and week and has seven treatment rooms, hydrotherapy pool, Turkish
Hamman and steam room. It was the most spotlessly clean, elegant and modern spa I have ever seen. I had a ‘Vespa Treatment’ which was a 9o minute treatment involving massage of face and body as well as a foot and facial cleanse. Nathan had a body massage as well, followed by a session in the steam room and found himself super relaxed.
What was the best part of this treatment for me, was the high tech state-of-the-art bed. I had never even heard of beds like this, so when I lay down I was truly surprised. My bed, called a ‘floating bed’ basically had a layer of water underneath a special plastic top (just like a water bed) over it. When you lay on the bed, it massaged you and it really was very similar to being on a blow up ly-lo out on the ocean gently floating somewhere. It was truly magic and made the massage even more relaxing. There is only 1 in the Uk!
What was a lovely touch was after I got dressed, I was given some mint sorbet to refresh after my treatment. Whilst I don’t think it was healthy as it was made from mint and sugar but my word, it was yummy, and a very special touch.
They also have their own brand of products which I got to try out during my treatment. Some are even 97% organic so these of course were my favorite. Check out their products here I particularly loved the ”Breakfast Smoothie ”
I didn’t get to try the pool or steam room as my husband was not feeling so well but next time I go, I will make sure I make good use of all the facilities. There are some amazing treatments on the menu and if I had my way, I would have tried them all out.
We thoroughly enjoyed our two night stay at Cotswald House. They offer some wonderful packages, some involving sports cars, pets, spa weekends and many more.
I think a trip back to Cotswald House in Spring/Summer is on the cards!
Prices start at approx £170 and often include a delicious breakfast! Please contact Cotswald House for further info!