Nestled within Churn Valley – a green swathe deep in the heart of the Cotswolds that’s almost surreal in its bucolic fantasy of the English countryside – Cowley Manor has been a boutique hotel since at least the turn of the millennium, but it’s taken Experimental Group to shake things up at this 300-plus-year-old country-house property.
Cowley Manor Experimental
After the international hospitality group took over the Italianate-style manse last year, it embarked on an energetic, ambitious restoration project led by London-based architects, De Matos Ryan. For starters, the seductive, tactile mood-board of Paris-based interior designer Dorothée Meilichzon’s skilfully pairs whimsical touches – such as subtle decorative nods to Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll rumoured to be a frequent visitor, by way of checkerboard-patterned rugs and rabbit head door knocks, with large windows that frame the Arcadian gardens.
The rehabilitation of the manor continues with the recent creation of a new pavilion that adds five high-ceilinged guest rooms. Cued by the materials and design of the main house, De Matos Ryan have paired locally quarried Cotswold stone with UK-grown Douglas Fir, and maple to create a garden-wrapped wing that fairly breathes in simpatico with tall arched doorways and expansive terraces. Private and apart, yet organically fused to the main house, the pavilion, the architects say, reads ‘as a secondary detached building volume that is respectful of its context’.
Equally contextual is the restaurant where head chef Jackson Boxer (Notting Hill’s Orasay and Selfridges’ Jackson Boxer at the Corner) serves up a locally sourced harvest in a grand dining room lined with antique wood wall panels, empire ceiling mouldings and playful tables that look like modular chess pieces. On the menu are resolutely British fare and Gloucestershire produce such as Hereford sirloin served up with smoked bone marrow, Cornish crab, smoked honey and trout.
Cowley Manor Experimental is located at Cowley, Cheltenham GL53 9NL, cowleymanorexperimental.com
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