Charingworth Manor

“The perfectly cosy Cotswolds escape”

An absolutely gorgeous hotel in a beautiful setting with wonderfully attentive staff. Stayed in a manor house room which was super comfortable and cosy, the attention to detail was fantastic with comfy bed, pillows, lovely toiletries, a radio, tea and coffee making facilities. Food served in t… more

An absolutely gorgeous hotel in a beautiful setting with wonderfully attentive staff. Stayed in a manor house room which was super comfortable and cosy, the attention to detail was fantastic with comfy bed, pillows, lovely toiletries, a radio, tea and coffee making facilities. Food served in the restaurant was absolutely top notch, the menu catered well for vegetarians too. This is a well-managed modern cosy hotel with relaxing lounges, excellent coffee table reading and gorgeous art and interior styling - really really nicely done. I will return soon!

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“A bargain price for a luxury stay”

We wouldn't normally frequent a luxury hotel like this but they graciously offer mid-week specials which are affordable. Brilliant countryside location with outstanding views over the hills from the front lawn. Our lovely room was located right next to the indoor swimming pool. Excellent breakfasts… more

We wouldn't normally frequent a luxury hotel like this but they graciously offer mid-week specials which are affordable. Brilliant countryside location with outstanding views over the hills from the front lawn. Our lovely room was located right next to the indoor swimming pool. Excellent breakfasts, with many extras (like a choice of crossiants, and home-made fruit salads) all in addition to the standard fry-up fare (which itself was very acceptable)

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“Nice hotel, excellent bed, great swimming pool, I will return...”

Where to begin? Well, let's start with the negative stuff, there's not much. In fact, there's only one thing if I'm honest. Let me level with you: I've travelled EXTENSIVELY around the world over the past 11 years and more, but certainly over the last 11 years more than ever before in my life. I've… more

Where to begin? Well, let's start with the negative stuff, there's not much. In fact, there's only one thing if I'm honest. Let me level with you: I've travelled EXTENSIVELY around the world over the past 11 years and more, but certainly over the last 11 years more than ever before in my life. I've stayed in a lot of hotels, some good, some bad, but more good and in all of that time I've NEVER had to tip the hotel on check out or, indeed, at ANY point in my stay. Yes, of course, we all tip waiting staff in restaurants if we get good service, we tip taxi drivers and so on, but NEVER have I had to tip the hotel. And I've never felt as if they're waiting for a tip either, so it was odd when, on checking out, I noticed that they'd added a £20 payment to my bill and I felt obliged to question what it might be; I was told it was a staff gratuity and they said I could take if off if I so wished, throwing the guilt into my court, hoping, perhaps, that I'd say, no, no, no, you keep it. But no, a principle was at stake here, two principles, the first being that if I want to tip the hotel staff or the waiting staff in the restaurant or whatever, leave it to me, I'll do so if I want to, I don't expect the tip to be added without my say so, but that's what happened and, as I say, I can't ever remember tipping a hotel on check out or at any time during my stay. The other principle is, surely, you don't tip hotels and you don't expect the hotel to add the tip without your say so and then try to make you feel guilty for saying no. Okay, rant over, but if I'm really honest I'm beginning to hate the way that the hospitality industry in general is taking such liberties. They're either charging extortionate prices or adding tips without being asked and I'm finding it more than just a little irksome. Other than that the Charingworth Manor on the outskirts of Chipping Campden was an excellent hotel and it was a shame that they had to go and ruin it, blot their copy book, at the very last fence, so to speak. I never bothered with the restaurant, mainly because I felt it was a little on the pricey side. In fact, I found a perfectly priced Italian restaurant in Chipping Campden, Da Luigi Bistro, and I visited that establishment on both Wednesday and Thursday night (we checked out of the hotel on the Friday morning otherwise I'd have been back there on Friday night too. Back to the Charingworth Manor, there was a long drive leading up to the hotel, which was very pleasant, sheep in a field to my left as I drove towards the hotel and when I reached the reception, all was good. The room (there were two) the William Potter (where my wife and I stayed, and a room virtually on top of us, the name of which I can't remember, where my daughter resided. Both rooms were fantastic, they sported comfortable beds, decent showers and were plenty roomy, this was not a dingy place at all. It was clean and friendly and the breakfasts were to die for and the icing on the cake was a swimming pool that ticked all the boxes: decent changing rooms for a start, rain showers (just like in the rooms) and a good supply of towels so guests didn't have to use their hotel room towels. There were even dressing gowns and slippers in the rooms for guests to use for when making their way to the pool. I loved it and so did everybody else. I had two swims but decided not to take a dip on the day I checked out. I rarely get a decent night's sleep at home but at the Charingworth Manor I had no problem at all and it was a great feeling knowing I'd enjoyed a good night's sleep and I guess it's the fault of the bed, it was large and comfortable and the pillows were incredible: fluffy, plump, whatever adjective you might care to use. I could have done with another night and one was offered, they were saying a deal could be struck for another night but I figured it would be pricey. I was considering saying, "okay, how about £100 for both rooms for one more night?" but you just know they're not going to accept that so we didn't bother asking. Would I return? Yes I would, it was very pleasant even if, at around 0330hrs on Friday morning the fire alarms sounded, prompting all of us to get up, get dressed and head down to reception to find out what was going on. The answer was the driving rain that might have, somehow, set the alarms off. Fair enough, I thought, but I was amazed at how nobody seemed bothered about the alarm. There was only my family plus the occupants of an adjacent room who were fully dressed and awaiting some kind of instruction as to what to do. We headed to the reception area and was told it was probably the adverse weather. I was once in a hotel in either Abu Dhabi or Doha, I can't remember which, and the alarm went off in the middle of the night. Within a few minutes the entire hotel were standing in the car park in varying degrees of undress (I'm managed to chuck on trousers and a tee-shirt, remember it was a hot country, whichever one it was). But point, however, is that nobody seemed to heed the alarm's call. I'm assuming they turned over and moaned sleepily to nobody in particular, 'must be some kind of mistake' and slept on.

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