Thyme

Thyme is less a hotel than a small hamlet that happens to take guests. The Bamford-Hodges family spent years bringing a cluster of derelict farm buildings around Southrop Manor back into use, and the result is a scatter of honeyed stone lodgings, courtyards and walled gardens connected by gravel paths rather than corridors. You check in at a farmhouse, not a lobby, and much of the pleasure lies in wandering between buildings on the way to dinner.

The estate runs on its own rhythms. There is a cookery school in the tithe barn, a meadow spa with its own botanical treatment range, and a village pub, The Swan, which serves the surrounding community as much as it does guests. Vegetables, herbs and cut flowers come from the walled garden a short walk away, and the kitchen leans hard on whatever has just been picked.

It suits people who want the Cotswolds without the coach parties. Lechlade, Burford and Bibury are all within easy reach, the upper Thames is close enough to walk to, and the surrounding lanes are quiet enough that most guests never bother moving the car once they arrive.