A couple of weeks ago we took to the road and headed to the Cotswolds in order to banish away our January blues. It’s something we’re making a bit of an annual trip – as we did the same mid January last year – and let me tell you, it is always very much welcomed. We had the trip partially as a Christmas present and I honestly love the idea of it – who doesn’t need some time away in the most boring, sober, skint, cold month of the year?!
This time, we stayed in Stow-On-The-Wold in a little hotel called The Old Stocks Inn. Both myself and Dave absolutely loved our time there and didn’t want to come home, so I thought I would share with you 5 reasons why you should most definitely add this to your hotel wish list.
- The Rooms
We stayed in one of the hotels ‘Amazing Great Rooms’. This is the top room category and I can 100% see why. Ours was room 15, which is situated at the front of the hotel overlooking the Market Square in Stow. They’ve taken great advantage of the view and built in two cute little window seats – perfect for taking advantage of the stocked mini bar and taking in the views. We also had an in-room roll top bath which – let’s be honest – is absolute hotel room goals. We stayed for two nights and of course I spent a minimum of an hour in the bath each afternoon, suppin’ on a glass or three of prosecco.
The decor mirrors that of a boutique hotel, but also compliments the architecture and style of the building so well, they have managed to get the balance between the history of the building and modern interiors exactly right.
P.S. There are also two garden rooms so you can bring your dog along for a countryside break with you too!
- The Food
I probably wouldn’t be far wrong if I said that every day of my life revolves around food and what I’ll be eating next. So naturally, every overnight stay or day out I take revolves around the same. The restaurant at The Old Stocks Inn sources all it’s ingredients locally (I can vouch for that as one morning we saw the local butcher arrive to deliver the days meats) and the food absolutely did not disappoint. In fact, have you ever had that disappointed feeling at the end of a meal because it’s over? Yep, it was seriously that good.Both the breakfast and evening menu’s are seasonal and carefully crafted to offer something for everybody. Breakfast time for me was of course avo & poached eggs with sourdough, then for evening I would highly recommend the lobster risotto to start – so good I had it two nights running! If you do decide to stay at The Old Stocks, you need to make a reservation to eat there as well or I promise you, you will be missing out.
The Old Stocks Inn also have their own coffee shop next door to the hotel which serves the most amazing coffee, tea and cakes.
- Surrounding Areas
The hotel is sat in the centre of the Market Square in Stow-On-The-Wold. The square is filled with lots of quaint little shops, traditional pubs, cafés, and sweet shops. La Patissier Anglais is a little French patisserie recommended to us by a friend. They serve THE most amazing little pastries and cakes, we of course picked a few to bring home and sample.
Again (on the subject of food) there is a a restaurant just outside of the square called The Old Butchers , which caught our eye the year before when we saw the lobster & chips on the board outside. For some reason we didn’t go in, so made it our mission to visit this year and the food was definitely beyond expectations. So another one to add to your list, especially if you like seafood.Stow is only a short drive away from some other lovely little towns and villages, Bourton-On-The-Water is a favourite of ours, or if you like long walks in the country the staff at the hotel will be more than happy to talk you through the best in the area, like they did for us.
- The Bar/Library
The hotel boasts a number of facilities to make use of during your stay and being quite honest, if you didn’t want to you wouldn’t actually have to leave the building for the whole stay. They have a wood-fired pizza oven in the gardens which I was gutted wasn’t in use, because I’m SUCH a pizza lover – but I can’t really complain as there was snow outside so I don’t think it would have been much fun anyway.
However, one area we did make use of was of course the bar and ‘lounge’ which has the loveliest little library corner – home to so many books and board games for you to drink and play the afternoon away. After exploring the local town one afternoon, we settled into the corner with a large wine and played all our old favourites as well as Cards Against Humanity. The best way to cosy in from the cold (did I mention it was snowing?) and make the most of our beautiful surroundings.
- The attention to detail
A few days before our reservation we received an email from The Old Stocks containing loads of useful information we might need during our stay. They also took this time to ask what our favourite drinks were in order to fill up our mini-bar and sure enough when we arrived, it was stocked with gin for me and beer for Dave.The service we received was second to none and it was clear to see the attention to detail running consistently throughout the hotel, from the mural on the wall in reception, to the staff remembering our room number and food preferences and the quirky little signage and artwork dotted round. One of my favourites was the polaroid photographs of all of the staff members along with their names and nicknames, in a cosy corner of reception. Just another lovely touch to help you feel at ease and at home.
There you have it – 5 reasons you should absolutely, definitely make The Old Stocks Inn one of your future weekend residencies. We will be back soon – hopefully in the Summer so I can sample the pizza oven & sun myself with a prosecco or two in the garden this time rather than the tub! x
K a y l e i g h R e b e k a h 