Thyme at Southrop Manor

Hotel review

Thyme in Southrop is more than a hotel; it is a living, breathing estate, shaped with care by owner Caryn Hibbert and her family. You approach up a long drive with sheep grazing in the grounds and rewilded pockets of land left to do their own thing. 

The Meadow Spa is small but soothing, with a fireside relaxation area that makes you want to stay a little while longer after a massage. The gardens are not manicured into perfection, but alive and seasonal – the kitchen and cutting gardens brim with flowers and produce that spill into every part of the guest experience. The pool is open April to November and uses water naturally drawn from the hotel's own spring, pure enough to drink!

The English Garden Room is vast, with a soft pink and green palette from Edward Bulmer, its own fireplace, and a bathroom you won’t want to leave: a marble walk-in shower, a painted roll-top bath facing the garden, and a stack of big fluffy towels and flannels with Bertioli bath salts. Upstairs, a pantry offers flapjacks, apples from the garden, ice, and milk; a breakfast hamper in your room is also an option.

Head to the boutique brimming with Bertioli fabrics, cookery books and Bertioli body products, including the excellent 3-in-1 Body Bar, where Genevieve speaks about them with real knowledge and warmth. Dining is led in the Ox Barn by Caryn’s son Charlie, the culinary director, whose menus rely heavily on the estate’s produce. And it's the staff who stay with you: Molly’s ready smile, Thomas making you a punchy G&T and slipping you a small pot of marmalade because he noticed how much you liked it, and Genevieve’s enthusiasm in the shop. A little bit of heaven in the Cotswolds.

Lulu Townsend