Cotswolds: Living in a 16th century Manor House (for 4 days!)

Last day in the Cotswolds!

We are having a gray winter day today, so it seems perfectly appropriate to stay home and write this nostalgic farewell post to close our Cotswolds trip. With England I always have that feeling that it won’t be the last time there, so it’s a goodbye with a big smile on our face.

I think it’s hardly noticeable in the pics, but I had my Gizmo patch sewn on the jacket! Gizmo always reminds me of Juno. And Gremlin is also a perfect cat name *wink to my pal Fee, human mom of Gremlin!*

Hotel hunting in the Cotswolds was not that difficult, specially when we settled for Moreton in marsh as our base and decided that were going to choose a place that would add to the overall experience. According to Tripadvisor Moreton has only three hotels, so you can picture how easy it was, ha! Nevertheless our choice was not random, we already had The Manor House on our radar way before detecting that Moreton was the easiest home-base to travel to the Cotswolds using public transport.

The Manor house belongs to a chain of B&B historical hotels from the Cotswolds area called The Cotswolds Inns & Hotels. They own a total of 9 hotels, one of them is the famous Swan Hotel in Bibury, background of many tourist pictures (check for instance our pics, as an example *wink*). One of the perks is that you are staying at a real historic site, the Manor House dates from the 16th century and was once the home of the Creswyke family, principal landowners in Moreton in marsh.

What made us swoon before getting there was the inner patio with the greenhouse brasserie. Apart from the gorgeous location, breakfasts were also tasty, although I missed having fresh fruit juice. However, I like that they included a hot made-to-order plate. I much appreciate a touch like this than the biggest buffet. We tasted all the eggs available: florentine, benedict and dippy eggs & soldiers. An impressive thing (for me) was that you were able to say the minutes you wished your eggs to be boiled. The first day I was completely clueless about what to say when they asked: 7 minutes would be ok? Not that big egg expert, sorry!

If, like us, you are travelling with public transportation, it is important to foresee what are you going to do with dinners. Since the last buses were around 6-7 pm we knew that all our dinners were going to take place in Moreton. Being a tiny little town, it doesn’t have many food options either, so when we learnt that our hotel had 2 restaurants we knew this would make our trip much more comfortable & comforting. After a long day travelling I am not a big fan of going out until late, so it was a perfect option for me.

On our last night we splurged a little by booking a table at the 2-rossete (awards similar to Michelin stars) restaurant from our hotel, called Mulberry. It was our first time eating British local food with such gourmet preparation, look at the presentation of all the dishes, yummy! Also it was my first time eating rhubarb, which is something difficult to find here in Spain, but I enjoyed it very much. The only thing we missed for our hotel experience was trying a local gin at the bar.

On the last day, we visited Oxford and flied back home, with a tiny bit of our hearts that will forever be in the Cotswolds. What else should we visit in the UK next time? I have a hunch that we will be back this 2018, just mentioning!