A Cozy New Hideaway in the Cotswolds, Just in Time for the Holidays

On the 11:22 from London it starts to pour, and by the time we pass Honeybourne it appears to everyone in the carriage that we’re thudding along the bottom of a pond. People start making rain hats out of the Evening Standard in a routine sort of way. From the windows we can see the oak trees leaning, their movements murky, and the conductor crackles over the loudspeaker to impart the foul-weather dangers of steps, platforms, stepping onto platforms, and trains generally. My husband and I drag our luggage outside at Evesham, where our taxi discovers us sheltering under a limp issue of Country Life.

From Evesham we drive toward Broadway, an unusually pretty village in a length of the country known chiefly for its pretty villages. The run from the station is quick, and minutes later the taxi deposits us in front of a limestone house on the high street, where a porter in a wool cap is waiting with an umbrella. We scream goodbye to our driver through the squall and duck inside between two snapping Union Jacks.

The Lygon Arms has been in operation under sundry names and proprietors since the 1300s. It began life as a coaching inn on the road to London, and during the intervening centuries it has tucked up everyone from Oliver Cromwell to Elizabeth Taylor. The new owners, who also oversee the countryside favorites Cliveden House and Chewton Glen, reopened the hotel in September after a substantial renovation. Even in a region full of beautiful places to stay, the result is exceptional.

The property unspools into a warren of low, beamed rooms with plump furniture and well-fed fires. On arrival we’re taken to a pretty common room with mullioned windows, where we order beer and sandwiches (that tonic for damp feet) and sink into a squishy sofa until we can face unpacking. Our room is located a few minutes’ walk from the main building, in a thatched cottage that overlooks a garden. The decoration inside is comforting: handsome antiques and folded tartan blankets, thick flannel curtains to keep out the cold, and a bathtub. We take turns soaking, put on our warmest clothes (the single dress I packed will idle in the wardrobe until it returns home), and brave the weather to go to supper at the hotel restaurant.

The Lygon Bar & Grill inhabits the 17th-century great hall, a two-story space lit by antler chandeliers and a fireplace the size of a cave. The dishes are simple (chicken pie, lamb cutlet) and clearly a hit with the dining room, which roars every night of our visit. Next door, the hotel also operates an attractive wine bar with stone walls and zinc-topped tables. The wines are available to take away by the bottle, so if you find something you like, you can retire to your room with a corkscrew.

For guests on longer trips like ours, there are plenty of other restaurants in the area to try. Ten minutes up the road by car is Dormy House, which operates the casual Potting Shed restaurant and the elegant Garden Room. The latter serves one of the best tasting menus I’ve had this autumn: Risotto studded with cèpe and pigeon in port wine sauce were highlights of a recent evening there. At Buckland Manor, 5 minutes away by taxi or 40 on foot through pleasant countryside, suppers begin with canapés and Champagne in front of a log fire (there are several grates, so no need to maneuver) before moving through to the dining room, where the menu hangs on ingredients that were pulled, picked, or reared in the nearby Vale of Evesham. Apart from the food, nothing about the restaurant is modern—it’s comfortably hoary, from the board-and-batten paneling to the carriage clock ticking on the mantel—and I hope it never changes. Also worth a look is the recently spruced-up Slaughters Manor House, slightly further afield in picturesque Lower Slaughter. They have a smart afternoon tea served in punch-pink armchairs, and a bright new bar with a thoughtful selection of sherries.

The rain continues for half of our trip, the other half breaking into blinking sunshine, and it is a testament to the beauty of the north Cotswolds and the charms of The Lygon Arms that we enjoy the conditions equally. On the inky, wet days, we have hot scones with jam and wonder what we’re doing living in London. When it’s clear, we take hours-long walks to Broadway Tower, Snowshill, and the stables near Stanton and marvel at the same thing.