Lords of the Manor, Cotswolds

It’s all too easy to get carried away and feel like the real lord (or lady) of the Cotswolds’ Lords of the Manor Hotel, decides Kathryn Lewis

Upper Slaughter’s country house hotel has received numerous extensions, renovations and refurbishments since it was first built in Henry VII’s reign.

It’s just undergone its latest regeneration and, while bold print wallpapers and statement furnishings have added to the hotel’s effortless glamour, the most alluring development is the new dining concept introduced to complement the widely acclaimed restaurant.

VISIT for back-to-back decadent dining. Staying more than one night at a destination gourmet hotel can be awkward when it comes to dinner as, however extraordinary the tasting menu, no-one wants to eat the same line-up two evenings on the trot.

So, aware that the luxurious lodgings and first-class service were tempting most to stay a second night, the team at Lords of the Manor created The Dining Room brasserie to provide somewhere for guests to relax over a more informal supper. That said, head chef Charles Smith’s ambitious nine course tasting menus are still the main draw.

The chef cut his culinary teeth at Per Se in New York and London’s Petrus by Marcus Wareing, and at Upper Slaughter works with hyperlocal and resolutely seasonal ingredients to create flavour-flushed dishes for the 14-cover Atrium Restaurant.

The same sourcing ethos applies in the brasserie – though in a slimmed-down menu of sized-up portions.

DON’T VISIT for action. The pace of life is turned down to a leisurely level here and taking time to peruse the newspapers in the library or stroll around the herb gardens is part of the pleasure.

WE LIKED the dish of unbelievably umami-rich king oyster mushrooms with rosy Galloway beef and preserved truffle sauce which was the crowning course of the visit – and fit for any manner of lord.