Lords of the Manor
A 17th-century manor house in Upper Slaughter, with eight acres of gardens made for a slow afternoon tea or a drink on the lawn.
A 17th-century manor house in Upper Slaughter, with eight acres of gardens made for a slow afternoon tea or a drink on the lawn.
Lords of the Manor is the grand old house at the heart of Upper Slaughter, a former rectory of warm Cotswold stone dating to 1649, now a country house hotel set in eight acres of lawns, flower gardens, an orchard and a lake. You do not need to be staying to enjoy it, and this is really why we send guests over: on a fine afternoon there are few nicer things to do nearby than take a table on the terrace or a rug on the grass, order afternoon tea or simply a drink, and let a couple of unhurried hours go by with the parkland rolling away in front of you.
The afternoon tea is the easy pleasure here: proper leaf teas, homemade scones with jam and clotted cream, finger sandwiches and little cakes, taken either in the drawing rooms by the fire or outside when the weather plays along. If you would rather just have a drink, the bar is happy to serve non-residents, and on a warm day a glass of something cold carried out into the gardens is hard to beat. It is a smart house rather than a village pub, so think a civilised drink in beautiful surroundings rather than a raucous session, but it is genuinely welcoming and no one will hurry you.
For an occasion, the dining room turns the whole thing up a notch. The kitchen holds four AA Rosettes and an AA Notable Wine List, and cooks refined, modern British food, the sort of precise, seasonal cooking you dress up a little for. There is a good-value set lunch if you want the experience without the full evening, a generous Sunday lunch, and a longer dinner menu for the nights you want to linger. It is fine dining rather than a quick bite, so book ahead and give yourself the evening. Whether you come for a scone on the lawn or the full tasting menu, it is the same lovely house either way.
Upper Slaughter is about half an hour from Well Cottage, west into Gloucestershire towards Bourton-on-the-Water. It pairs perfectly with a wander round the Slaughters themselves: walk the riverside path between the two villages, then reward yourselves with tea or a drink in the manor gardens. Bourton-on-the-Water and Stow-on-the-Wold are both a few minutes on if you want to build a fuller day. For the wider spread, our guide to eating and drinking in the area runs from village pubs to farm-shop cafés and everything between.
“We use it as the treat at the end of a Slaughters walk. Tea and scones on the lawn on a good day is our idea of a perfect Cotswold afternoon, and if there's something to celebrate, the dinner is special too.”
All of this on the doorstep, and your own thatched cottage to come home to. Sleeps seven, less than a mile from Soho Farmhouse.