It was the boy's birthday a few weeks ago and we decided to escape the city and spend the weekend in the Cotswolds to celebrate. We both love the walking in the fresh air, hearty good food and a log burning fire so when Thyme in Southrop was suggested to us as a destination we instantly made the booking... And what a lovely stay we had!

Thyme is one of those places everyone is going to want to go to. In fact since returning I've spotted it in numerous reviews in magazines... It's already fantastic, but they have plans to add on a spa and a restaurant in 2017. My advice would be to go now before it gets insanely popular. I quite like that it's a fairly hidden gem (I was half reluctant to write this post because I loved how peaceful and quiet it was) even though it's pretty obvious it's about to become the Cotswolds destination. 

It started life as a cookery school (the school's kitchen is incredible) following with them gradually doing up the farm's outbuildings - including an incredibly impressive private house which sleeps 16 where we stayed (details here). The first photo in this post was our morning view... Bliss.

In the house there is an enormous kitchen, multiple dining spaces, a snug complete with every book and board game you'd ever need and gorgeous guest bedrooms/bathrooms. Not to mention the sitting room complete with bed-size sofas and huge log fires which you can light at your pleasure. We spent the afternoon reading the papers, drinking red wine and playing boules on the purpose made patio in the private garden. How every Saturday should be spent, in my humble opinion...

I spent most of the time taking notes on the decor for my own little flat back in London... However, you'd fail to recreate it as the village the whole place is set in, Southrop, feels like something out of a movie set. So cliche-wonderful-English-countryside you find yourself smiling for no apparent reason when having a walk around... 

Which leads me neatly onto the local pub, The Swan. I'm annoyed at myself for not taking a picture of the front of it, but then I guess it means I'm not robbing you of the feeling of quintessential-pub-bliss when you arrive. We live right near one of the nicest pubs in the UK (according to Time Out) so it takes a lot to impress but our dinner was so, so good and they really went the extra mile for our birthday celebration. 

I can't recommend the lamb, the bramble cocktails or the frangipane tart enough. Oooh, or the copious amount of Baileys I thought it would be an excellent idea to consume in the hotel's bar later. The life-size sheep makes a brilliant chair too, when you're feeling silly...

On top of all the delights in Southrop itself, it's perfectly located to enjoy the wider Cotswolds region. We nipped into Burford for lunch and enjoyed a long Sunday walk through the surrounding areas. Also, handily it really didn't take that long to get to from London - just under two hours. Really can't recommend this enough, my only complaint would be that it's going to get super busy soon - so go quickly!