Charming chiming bells from the city church reverse heralded my arrival and I knew already I used to be in for a blessed time. I had come to remain, proper within the coronary heart of Cirencester, on the city’s principal lodge The Kings Head. It’s classically positioned alongside the thoroughfare with its flags fluttering. This former teaching inn dates again to the 14th century and is an independently owned boutique lodge with Condé Nast Johansens’ seal of approval.
Cirencester is 2 hours from London by automotive and even much less by prepare. It’s fairly and historic with a Roman amphitheater. It’s known as the ‘capital of the Cotswolds’, a area of agricultural neatness and prosperity and harking back to The Dordogne. There are beautiful stone homes and loads of attention-grabbing particular person outlets. Alongside cobbled streets and previous courtyards are the municipal gardens of the Abbey Grounds however one of the best strolling is throughout the 3,000 acres of Cirencester Park, minutes away with its colossal 40-foot excessive yew hedge the tallest in Europe.
Each Gatcombe Park (the house of Princess Anne) and Highgrove (King Charles’s former home) are 20 minutes away whereas Cirencester Park is residence to the world’s oldest polo membership and the place Charles and Camilla carved their initials on a tree as a romantic signal of their dedication to one another.
By way of the lodge’s entrance, a former passageway for carriages, shiny colourful artifacts, and work adorn the lobby. An enormous trendy hare and an outdated picket throne set the tone of the modern décor mixing with its historic fundament. And there’s an image body of coloured wools providing a nod to the city’s affluent roots. For on this bar-cum-lounge space individuals sit, loosen up, learn the papers, or gossip. And all in entrance of welcoming roaring flames from a big stone hearth.
All is constructed over the stays of a Roman constructing, a phase of which is preserved inside glassed flooring. All through the Cotswold limestone comes with uncooked brickwork and picket beams, with serene impartial textiles and ambient lighting.
The 77 rooms, ranging from $225 per night time, are all particular person and classed as Traditional, Superior, Function, and Indulgent so as of ascending grandeur. They prolong all alongside the parade of outlets of Market Place and have characterful shapes retaining the unique Cotswold stone. With my uncovered picket high-beamed ceiling it actually resembled an upturned ship, an unique nave, with small home windows like portholes from which to look at the market stallholders beneath.
The type is Nation Traditional and really tasteful. On my king-sized mattress was a herringbone woolen throw, and there was loads of house for the modern beige, checked armchairs and a felt and wool-covered footstall. It was all so heat and welcoming. So home-from-home with grounding, earthy, impartial décor and furnishings. Room 103 has a giant copper roll-top bathtub and all of the rooms have Elemis merchandise. There are ten self-catering flats which are perfect for households. Youngsters below 12 can keep free of charge and a few rooms even permit for canine.
Within the former stables, reverse the Corn Corridor Deli & Wine Cellars, and glassed off from an arcade, is the MBB Brasserie. Underexposed picket beams are unique signature arched home windows on one facet and floor-to-ceiling glass on the opposite. So uber-cool, mild and ethereal. The theatre and artistry are within the center, an open-plan kitchen the place the meals is ready in full view.
From the very reasonably priced menu providing very beneficiant helpings, I beloved my Farmer’s Backyard Vegetable Soup adopted by a Crab and Salmon Fish Cake with buttered winter greens. And I couldn’t resist the Chocolate Knickerbocker Glory (a standard English confection involving cherries, Chantilly cream, and brownies).
The breakfast room has wooden floors and heat terracotta-colored partitions. One is adorned with a motley medley of intently hung portraits. One other has an extended banquette which, skylit, is so mood-affirming. It was right here that I took Afternoon Tea. So quintessentially English and indulgent however a reward for all my strolling.
There aren’t any gardens or pool however there’s a roof terrace for the hotter months. Within the vaults is reside aplenty with a health club, a sauna, and a very good spa. And there are remnants of Roman mosaics, a vaulted wine cellar, a former Skittles alley (now a wonderful room for personal rent) below the unusually flat brick ceiling, and a correct cavern during which to lift the roof with noise.
Whereas the subterranean Vaulted Spa supplied Elemis facials I selected as a substitute a soothing sizzling stone therapeutic massage with candles and ambient music to permit me to float. Deeply spectacular and a becoming finale to a luxurious keep within the Cotswolds countryside.