A rectory above the Windrush, and a bed by the window
Twenty-four rooms in Cotswold stone, eleven acres of garden and orchard, and a kitchen that cooks whatever the garden sends up. Ninety minutes from Paddington.
Six kinds of room, no two the same shape
Rectory Double
22–26 m² · main houseA mullion window, beams overhead and a view that ends somewhere past the second hedge.
From £245 a night
Stable Loft
34 m² · stable rangeAcross the yard, up its own stair, under the original timbers. Where the dogs stay and where you may come in muddy.
From £330 a night
Windrush Suite
46 m² · first floor, frontThe old drawing room, a fire laid every afternoon and the river meadow below the window.
From £420 a night
Orchard Cottage
68 m² · end of the orchardTwo bedrooms, a kitchen and a walled garden behind its own gate. Self-contained, which with small children is the whole point.
From £640 a nightBuilt in 1673 for a rector with opinions
The Old Rectory went up in the year the parish finally raised the money, was extended twice by Victorians fond of bay windows, and stayed in one family until 2018. It became a hotel in 2021, with most of its faults deliberately left alone.
The floors still lean towards the west wall. The back stair is narrow enough that you meet people on it. Every fireplace draws, and from November three of them are lit by half past four. What we replaced was the plumbing, the heating, the wiring and the beds — the things a guest notices at two in the morning rather than at check-in.
Twenty-four rooms in all: fourteen in the house, six in the old stable range across the yard, a two-storey dovecote for one couple at a time, and a cottage at the end of the orchard that asks nothing of anybody.
Four reasons people come back
The lane stops at our gate
No through traffic, no coach park, and the nearest streetlight is down in the village. On a still night you can hear the weir.
The garden feeds the kitchen
An acre of it, walled, worked by two gardeners. Through August roughly two thirds of what appears at dinner was cut that morning.
Boots and dogs expected
A boot room with a tap and a drying rail, towels for wet dogs, and a map on the wall marked with the walks that are genuinely worth it.
Close, for somewhere this quiet
Kingham station is twelve minutes by car and London ninety minutes beyond it. We meet the train if you name it.
We arrived in the rain, were handed tea before we were handed a key, and found the fire in our room already lit. Three nights later we were asking about March.
Eleven acres, then the whole valley
The questions we are asked most
Is there parking?
Eighteen spaces on the gravel in front of the house, free, with no need to reserve one. Two 7 kW electric chargers stand by the stable range and are billed at cost.
Which nights is the restaurant open?
Dinner runs Wednesday to Sunday. On Mondays and Tuesdays the kitchen shuts and the bar serves a short supper instead — soup, a pie, cheese — from half past six until nine. Breakfast happens every day without exception.
Staying on a Monday and wanting a proper dinner? Reception will book one of three places in the village and say honestly which is best that week.
Can we bring the dog?
In the six stable rooms and in Orchard Cottage: two dogs per room, £20 each a night, with a bed, bowls and a towel waiting. Dogs may be in the bar and the boot room at any hour and in the dining room at breakfast, but not in the main house bedrooms.
How accessible is a house from 1673?
Partly, and we would rather say so. There is no lift, and the main stair climbs fifteen steps with a turn. Two ground-floor rooms in the stable range are step-free from the car park, with wet rooms, grab rails and 90 cm doors; the bar, dining room and garden terrace are all on one level.
The back stair in the house is steep and narrow. If stairs are difficult, say so when you book and we will put you in the stables rather than the attic.
Are children welcome?
At any age. Cots cost nothing, extra beds are £35, and Orchard Cottage has a second bedroom with two singles. High tea for children is at half past five, which most parents come to regard as the best thing we do.
Tell us the dates and we will answer today
Reception is staffed from seven in the morning until eleven at night, with a night porter awake after that. Telephone, write or send the form — either way a person replies.