The Cotswolds are having a well-deserved “moment”, and if you have done research on the Cotswolds, you understand just how spread out the area is. Our favorite spot is Castle Combe, a tiny town with two pubs and one castle/hotel The Manor House- which we highly recommend. A quick 30 minute drive from The Manor House is the larger city of Bath- home to Roman spas and infamous for hen parties- but also host to one of our favorite bars in the UK: The Dark Horse.
On a UK tour? Check out our very complete London Guide.
Don’t know what to pack? Here’s Jess’s Packing List.
Top Restaurants
Overall: Highly Recommend
Service: 8/10 Atmosphere: 7.5/10 Food: 9/10 Beverage Program: 4/10
Maybe we are biased because Jess had the best dish of her life in this tiny pub in the middle of a very romantic and quaint town (it was the seasonal homity pie… think cheese and leeks and fresh garden peas in a perfectly buttery flaky crust.) This restaurant is part of The Manor House, located just down the cobblestone road and in the corner of town. Reservations are required (yes, for a pub, but it’s brilliant), and you’ll be surprised to find that the ambiance is much more up-and-coming-small-restaurant than that of your traditional pub. The wines are limited, but it’s the food that counts here.
Overall: Highly Consider
Service: 7/10 Atmosphere: 7/10 Food: 7/10 Wine: 6/10
Before you see the score and feel like there’s a chance you could get away with skipping this place, don’t (instead, make a reservation for the downstairs section). Here’s why: the fish and chips are amazing, airy, and crispy- possibly the best we’ve ever had. Plus, as much as we don’t want to admit it… we didn’t love the food in Bath. Scallop Shell is the best bet. And, somehow, despite not loving the food scene, we still loved Bath and we would go back in a heartbeat. The city is charming, the spas and bath waters do seem to have a healing charm, and (here’s the real reason) the bar scene is incredible.
Overall: Highly Consider
Service: 9/10 Atmosphere: 2/10 Food: 8/10
We never thought we would put a to-go shawarma spot in our ‘Top Restaurant’ list, however Friend’s deserved it. A year after our trip to Bath, we still remembered these delicious gyros and the incredibly sweet service of one of our favorite late-night shawarma spots in the world. Go to Dark Horse bar, then go here after.
Top Bars
Overall: Highly Recommend
Service: 10/10 Atmosphere: 8/10 Bar Program: 9/10
There is no explanation for why we did not have this on our travel plans in the first place. Maybe the photos made it look too— well— dark. But being on the World’s Best Bars radar, we should have known better. Turns out, we found this place by wandering around the cobblestone roads, seeing a group of people being turned away by a bouncer outside of a seemingly unmarked door, and then asking what the deal was. Reservations are required, but we were able to make one for later that night, which turned out to be the right call. The Dark Horse is one of our favorite bars in the UK, and it would rival almost any bar in London (other than The Connaught). We went two nights in a row. Trust us, it’s worth a stop. Note: They do not take bar seat reservations unless you ask very nicely.
Overall: Highly Consider
Service: 9.5/10 Atmosphere: 10/10 Bar Program: 9.5/10
Located in The Manor House, this small and cozy bar is basically like having your own personal bartending staff in your living room (if your living room had an antique fireplace, oak paneling, leather-bound books, and plush seating). For history buffs: this is where Margaret Thatcher sat and wrote her memoirs. For cocktail buffs: they offer over 100 types of gin. For us: There is almost nothing wrong with this place unless, say, you hate gin and relaxing environments. If we built a house right now, we would have a room modeled after this. Also, this place can be fun, depending on the hotel’s guests. We had all the CFO’s of the UK’s top football teams stop by for a nightcap on their first night in, and many great stories were shared. It was one of our top nights ever. (They usually close when the last guest goes to bed.)
More Restaurants & Bars...
Overall: Consider
Service: 6/10 Atmosphere: 5.5/10 Food: 7/10 Wine List: 7/10
This 6-year-running Michelin star restaurant is located inside The Manor House in Castle Combe, and if you are in Castle Combe you should 100% go. On the greater scale of worldwide Michelin restaurants, this would not make our top 20. Part of this is our fault (honestly, we spent quite a bit too long sampling the 100+ gins the hotel has to offer in their cozy bar just down the hall before we made our way to the meal). This is also partly because it’s similar to many other Michelin-starred joints: medallions of meat, cheese cart at the end, the whole shebang. The restaurant was mostly empty, and there was no music. However, there were very memorable dishes… everything with butter (the UK and Ireland have some of the best), so if you are a butter fan, this is certainly up your alley (seaweed butter on the fish dish, a beautifully buttered bread and pastry, etc.)
Overall: Worth A Visit
Not rating
When it comes to Bath, there are drinking holes down nearly every alley in the center of town. A favorite walk-in bar of ours is The Bath Distillery Gin Bar (formerly Canary Gin Bar), which offers unique gins in a slightly crowded bar with a slightly mature crowd. Weekends in Bath can be quite filled with Hen and Stag parties, and this place generally stays away from that.
Overall: Recommend
Service: 7/10 Atmosphere: 5.5/10 Food: 6.5/10 Beverage Program: 6.5/10
It’s a little hard to give good ratings to an afternoon tea, because we are not big dessert people… and, as much as we try, we are not huge tea drinkers. That being said: The afternoon tea service at The Royal Crescent is very likely the best tea service in Bath. And the finger sandwiches were very good. We do wish the room was a little livelier and that the view was better (it’s just a back garden in the hotel), but we would still recommend doing this in Bath. It’s something interesting to do.
Overall: Recommend (but not for everyone)
Not rating
Outside The Manor House’s Castle Inn Pub, there is only one other pub in Castle Combe. It is called The White Hart and it is certainly worth the short walk to explore this cozy drinking hole. However, fair warning— the owners are a lovely married couple. They express their feelings very directly through their incredibly dry sense of humor. We liked it. It’s not for everyone. They pour chili on chips here and it’s delicious.
Hotels
If you are going to Bath, we recommend staying at The Gainsborough Hotel. It is in a central location, and the spa is one of the few locations to provide direct access to the infamous thermal “bath” waters. The spa is a reason to stay at the hotel- it offers a stunning pool and a variety of “treatment” rooms with red light therapy, shaved ice, saunas, steam rooms, and more. The bar is small but comfortable. The whole hotel kind of smells like the spa.
Our first time in the Cotswolds, we stayed in the village of Castle Combe at the romantic castle hotel The Manor House. This memorable castle has all the ‘quaint-ness’ of a bed and breakfast mixed with the perks of a high-end hotel. The property feels a bit like stepping into a fairy tale. They offer a Michelin-starred restaurant, a nearby gastronomic-focused pub, golfing, tea, clay pigeon shooting, and a fully stocked (gin focused) bar that stays open “‘til the last guest goes to sleep.” This is one of the most memorable places we have ever stayed, we have sent family members there, and we highly recommend it.
The Vineyard is Napa vitner Peter Michael’s property in Newbury, a town in the Cotswolds. The nearby town was a little rough around the edges… and we left early, which probably says enough.
The next time we go to the Cotswolds, we will likely just return to The Manor House… however, if you want more options: Hampshire’s Four Seasons is just outside of central London (we were scared away a bit by how kid-centric the property is). We’ve also heard good things about the Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire (which you can book through the Soho Friends option if you’re not a Soho House member).
The most famous hotel in Bath is The Royal Crescent, which we might consider more seriously next time (though we did like The Gainsborough).
Tourism & Travel Notes
On our first Cotswolds trip, we also stopped by Cardiff in Wales (about an hour drive from The Manor House). We stayed at The Parkgate Hotel, which was very business-y but seemed to be the best option in the downtown area. We didn’t stay long enough to merit a full post for Wales (and we’re likely going to Wales next year, so we can do a full post then), but we do have two great recommendations: Best Bar- The Dead Canary (Aka Here Be Dragons), Best Restaurant- Purple Poppadom (get an Uber because it’s not in the best area, but this family-owned Indian joint makes some of the best curries we’ve had).
It takes about 1.5 hours to train from Paddington Station in London to Bath. And it’s about a 30 minute drive from Bath to The Manor House in Castle Combe. We recommend spending time in both spots. Uber is available, and your hotel can arrange private transportation if you prefer.
Our first visit, we took this route:
Paddington (London) -> Cardiff -> Castle Combe -> Bath -> Paddington (London)
From London, we took a 2-hour train from Paddington Station to Cardiff (a five-minute walk from the city center). It only took about an hour to get to the Cotswolds from Cardiff— we hired a driver (Raj was great. He drives a roomy Mercedes V class. Here is his email: [email protected]). Then, we took another driver (this time through Nexus Transportation) for the 30-minute drive to Bath. We trained 1.5 hours back to London. The trains were comfortable & timely.
Notable Places Visited & Not Reviewed
Bath: Amarone: Randomly had some good wines but the food wasn’t memorable. The Chequers (Sunday Roast): Really tight quarters and the kid next to us had the stomach flu, so it wasn’t a great time.The Mint Room: Out of the way and average Indian food. Noya’s Kitchen: Uncomfortable seating, and limited drink and food menus that were different from online. Newbury (Cotswolds): We’d skip Newbury. Castle Combe (Costwolds): We reviewed everything! Told you it was tiny 🙂
favorite moments
