The members’ clubs upping the stakes in the Cotswolds

On a warm evening in September, the south terrace of Estelle Manor, a Jacobean-style country house nine miles northwest of Oxford, took on a distinctly Ibizan flavour. A thousand partygoers drank and danced late into the night, entertained by fire-eaters, DJs and a live orchestra, and the event was widely regarded as one of the most glamorous ever held in the Cotswolds.

It only served to underline the fact that the new members’ clubs arriving in the area don’t just rival those in London, but might (whisper it) be even better. They’re luring a younger, dynamic crowd out to the countryside – and giving house hunters another reason to leave the city behind.

Estelle Manor, which is also a 108-room hotel, threw open its doors in May 2023 and was immediately lavished with praise. “The Cotswolds’ hippest new hangout”, said The Sunday Times; “the hot new hotel everyone wants to book”, purred the Evening Standard.

This new arrival joins a select group of hotels and members’ clubs all over the south of England – including Babington House, The Newt and The Pig – evolving from places to sleep into lifestyle destinations with a sustainable bent. They’re giving back to the local community as well as drawing in a new audience, and providing high levels of luxury for both.

“Estelle Manor has spent a fortune building what is essentially a small village of outstanding facilities in glamorous contemporary style, and has brought a smart London scene to Oxfordshire,” says Plum Fenton, associate director in Savills Country House Department. “It has certainly encouraged house buyers who might previously have looked at the Home Counties or south of Oxford to head here instead.” It joins an impressive list of destinations bringing a fresh vibe to the Cotswolds.

Daylesford set the pace in 2002, opening an organic café and deli that became an essential Friday-evening shopping stop for weekenders en route from London to their country retreats. A spa, cookery school and fashion label followed. Soho Farmhouse arrived in 2015, to great fanfare. In 2022, Fitzdares Cotswolds Club came to Naunton Downes, catering to the racing crowd. And in 2023 a number of thoughtfully restyled and reinvigorated pubs, hotels and restaurants have thrown their hat in the ring, including Matthew Freud’s Bull Burford.

“When Daylesford opened in 2002, it introduced a new sophistication to the Cotswolds,” says Fenton. “Its latest project, the Club by Bamford, focuses on wellness and demonstrates a continual evolution. Soho Farmhouse also remains a draw.”

The Cotswolds is giving London members’ clubs, hotels and restaurants a run for their money, but what do more traditional long-term residents make of these new social hubs? “The Cotswolds has always had a mix of different social circles, and they all happily co-exist,” says Fenton. “The racing set might concentrate around Cheltenham and the sporting set around Burford or Badminton, but there are also CEOs, finance experts, noteworthy designers and entrepreneurs here. The high concentration of wealth in the Cotswolds and the strong community of like-minded people make it an easy place to set up a business.”

Welcome to the new Cotswolds: traditional honeyed stone on the outside, artistically vibrant, culturally adventurous and thoroughly up to date within.

Pictures from top: the lake at Soho Farmhouse; the lounge at Estelle Manor; the Club by Bamford at Daylesford; and the library at Estelle Manor