Detailed Review
Cowley Manor is the contemporary country hotel, with 30 rooms and a modernist spa. It is set in 55 acres of spectacular countryside, with four lakes and an extravagant Victorian cascade.
It is an hour and a half from London, and 35 miles from Oxford. There is plenty of room to work, rest or play - or even do all three.
The restaurant at Cowley Manor offers a wide variety using locally sourced produce. The ethos of the restaurant at Cowley Manor is honest food in a relaxed environment.
Cowley Manor’s spa is called C-Side. It has won many awards for its design and for the treatments which it offers. It was named Best Hotel Spa in the UK by Conde Nast Traveller magazine in 2006.
Press Quotes
“clothed in a traditional country house facade but... is ’in-your-face’ modern.”
Guardian 07
Independent Reviews
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"A contemporary, funky and flamboyant country house with a fabulous spa in rolling the Gloucestershire hills."
Cowley Manor
By Caroline Major
The sign from the roadway is understated, so meander when you turn off the main road. The driveway is much like that of a friend’s fabulous villa and winds along the ridge of a hill looking over a lake surrounded by fine tree specimens. This is just the beginning of the manor’s fifty five acres of beautifully kept grounds. We visited on an autumnal day when the afternoon light was milky and just a little bit warming, reflecting the golden hues of the still crisp fallen leaves. (eat your heart out, Wordsworth - the editor)
Across the grounds, nestled into the base of another hillock, is the Manor’s piece de la resistance – not one but two swimming pools, one indoor, the second out. Built into the hill on one side, a glass and concrete bunker forms a hothouse canopy over the indoor pool. Sunlight streams in through the floor to ceiling windows, catching the warmth of the autumn rays and making a cosy place to stretch cat like on the lounges with a good book and a pot of tea. Between dips and chapters you can swim up to the sauna and steam-room to pass a luxurious morning or afternoon. There’s a full list of both beauty and wellness treatments to take in, too, and if you’re up for more exercise than a walk and a swim, a well-kitted-out gym.
In summer, the outdoor pool has a garden feel. This epitomizes the atmosphere of Cowley Manor, its air of being the home of a sophisticated family who like nothing better than to entertain friends. It’s easy to imagine a poolside picnic in summer, or nights by the fire playing cards or pool.
Gloucestershire residents often use the hotel’s private dining rooms to host dinners and book out of town friends into the rooms for a fun-filled weekend. The crèche facilities are excellent, the food solid and the bar well stocked. It seems a perfect continuation of the original theme of the manor – the pursuit of pleasures.
The rooms
Good, Great, Better, Exceptional and Best Rooms vary considerably in the two blocks of the hotel. Those in the house itself are all single floors, but many of those in the stable block span two or even three. Some are stacked like a tower while others have mezzanine levels overlooking a central white gravel courtyard. Most have spacious bathrooms with a bath, and all come equipped with wall-mounted CD players and quality TVs. The mini-bar is stacked with full-sized bottles.
Boldly coloured feature walls and vibrant soft furnishings against a background of white make the modern Scandinavian style interiors cosy. Most rooms have at least one big window, which flood the rooms with light. In the main house, the floors are a honey-coloured wood, laid with rattan carpets. The toast-and-honey feeling continues into the stable block rooms with similar coloured carpets. Big rain showerheads are powerful and well enough enclosed to have a very enjoyable shower.
It’s really worth the time to talk about the kind of room you’d like, as they are substantially different. By specifying that a large bathroom, a split level room, an open plan lounge or something more cosy, or that access to the garden is a priority, you can make sure you get what you’re comfortable with.
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