If you've ever wondered what happens when a Grade I-listed Baroque mansion falls into the hands of someone with a taste for the surreal, Aynhoe Park is your answer. It sits just outside the village of Aynho, about twenty minutes from the cottage, and there really is nothing else like it in England.
The house itself is seventeenth century, classical and grand in the way you'd expect of a Cartwright family seat. But what sets it apart is the collection inside. Taxidermied animals suspended from the ceilings, neon art propped against old masters, a polar bear in the hallway: the whole place feels like a cabinet of curiosities scaled up to country-house proportions. It operates as a private members' club and events venue, so access varies through the year. Some weekends they open for tours or host public events, and occasionally you can book the house for a celebration that your guests will genuinely never forget. It's worth checking the website before you visit, because the calendar shifts, but when the timing works it is an extraordinary thing to see.
The drive from Well Cottage takes you south through rolling farmland and quiet lanes towards the Cherwell valley. Aynho itself is a handsome village of pale stone, and there's a good pub on the green if you want to make an afternoon of it. The park sits on the edge of the village, its grounds looking out over open countryside. Even from the outside you get a sense that something unusual is happening behind those tall windows. It's one of those places where the Cotswolds quietly reminds you that this corner of England has always attracted people with bold ideas and the means to follow through on them.
“The first time I walked in and saw a giraffe hanging from the ceiling I thought I'd lost the plot. It's gloriously, unapologetically bonkers.”
All of this on the doorstep, and your own thatched cottage to come home to. Sleeps seven, less than a mile from Soho Farmhouse.