Five Bells Cottage

This quintessential Cotswolds cottage ticks all the boxes for tradition and charm while boasting all the little luxuries of modern living. It has honey stone walls, leaded windows and a location opposite the village church. It’s also within easy walking distance of an award-winning 16th-century pub. So far, so good. But there’s more. Open the front door to Five Bells Cottage in Bledington and you’ll find that this Grade II-listed property has been thoroughly but sensitively renovated throughout. The inside is as pleasing as the outside, but in a slightly different way. Character remains, but comforts are wonderfully modern, with powerful showers, underfloor heating, comfy beds and a Nespresso coffee machine alongside the Aga.

Perhaps most surprising is the fact that all three double bedrooms in this 17th-century cottage have their own en-suite bathrooms, making it a perfect place for three couples to holiday together. It certainly feels like a grown-up space. After all, you need a level of maturity to appreciate the fizz in the welcome pack, the quality of the furniture and the artwork on the walls.

And that’s not to mention the thoughtfully planned lighting that ties the whole place together, from the snug where you enter to the master bedroom on the second floor. Like the other two bedrooms, this has beamed ceilings and heavy cottage-style doors, and also offers the style and substance of a boutique hotel: individually designed and well-appointed, with an immaculate, modern en-suite shower and toilet, plus a freestanding bath. Downstairs, the living room, kitchen-diner and courtyard garden provide sociable spaces where the focus is on eating and drinking together.

The cottage is certainly well kitted out for whipping up a feast – and if you like to cook, you’ll find some lovely places nearby to pick up local produce. Start at the fantastic village store around the corner and perhaps finish off at Daylesford Organic, the famous farm shop a couple of miles down the road. There’s also Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm towards Chipping Norton. Having said all that, there’s no need to cook if you don't want to – Bledington’s pub, The King’s Head Inn, is a very short stumble away, and you can take your pick from other good watering holes in nearby villages – accessible via the Oxfordshire Way which passes close by. This is the Cotswolds where standards rarely slip and everything, including Five Bells Cottage, is really rather lovely.