Great Tew
Cotswolds
When Tatler calls it ‘The hippest 4,000 acres outside of
London Mr and Mrs Clarke listen.
When you roll into the village, you are greeted with an idyllic pastoral scene. The whole place was remodelled by Humphry Repton to picturesque ideals in the early 19th century and, 200 years on, the trees have finally come into full maturity, completing his vision. It has little winding streets of ironstone houses with immaculately thatched roofs – really the most pert you’ve ever seen. It has a mini-Hogwarts of a primary school where you might even see the
children pitching up on ponies. Then there’s the gothic church, the cute village shop, the red telephone box, the ivy-covered pub, the gleaming cricket pavilion belonging to the Great & Little Tew Cricket Club.
The Hippest Village
As the scabrous Scottish author John Niven – who has rented a cottage on the green for the past couple of years – puts it, A team of artists on acid couldn’t have come up with a more perfect vision of chocolate-box England.
Move over Daylesford, there is a new player in the Cotswolds. The Soho farmhouse. Locals with families can, for an annual fee, make use of the heated indoor-outdoor pool, have a pint in the on-site, dog-friendly pub, use the Cowshed gym and spa, set up a game of five-a-side football or rounders, ice-skate in the winter, ride out on one of the 11 horses or have their hair styled by the team at Josh Wood, whose main salon is in—you guessed it—Notting Hill.
- Closest village/town: Great Tew
- Post Office: 1
- Stores: Chipping Norton is a hop across a few fields for everything you need.
- Supermarket: Who needs a super market when you have The Meat Joint! The most wonderful butchers.
- Pubs: The Falkland Arms serves a crackin’ pint of Wadworth as well plenty of Prosecco.
- Walks: Lots and lots of them
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