Wild Thyme & Honey

Worth getting out of bed for

Gloucestershire village Ampney Crucis looks like it belongs in a snow globe or perhaps on the lid of a tin of gourmet biscuits. It’s the kind of Cotswolds village that bears much historic beauty within its diminutive borders and plenty of glorious greenery rolling out beyond them. For fun, you could join the weekly pétanque club (you’ll need to pay the £5 annual membership fee), or see what’s playing at the local cinema for its monthly screening. Or, you could visit what’s left of the Holy Rood church – parts of which date back to the 15th century – but beyond that, country rambles and spells in the Crown pub are the remaining distractions, which very well may be why you came to this charming rural enclave in the first place. But more entertainment can be found in the ancient Roman market town of Cirencester, a five-minute drive or hour-long country hike away. See the remains of an amphitheatre and artefacts dating back to the Stone Age at the Corinium Museum, or splash about in the open-air lido. A moveable larder of local brews, chutneys and pickles, home-baked cakes and cookies, fruit and veg and other edibles, the Farmers’ Market is perhaps the most sensually engaging in Cirencester – it’s held on the second and fourth Saturday of each month. And, complete the village-hopping circuit with a tour of crowning-beauty Bibury, indie-shop-filled Burford and antiques-trove Tetbury (close to Prince Charles’s Highgrove estate). You might be far inland, but the Cotswold Park has its own beach and a range of watersports (SUP, kayaking, pedalos and electric boats) and a huge inflatable obstacle course come summer, while the Cotswold Water Park is rich in lacustrian beauty, encompassing 140 lakes and wetlands. Country pursuits, such as clay-pigeon shooting and horse rides from the Bourton Vale Equestrian Centre can be arranged, or you can get lightly sloshed at the Cotswold Gin Distillery, where tours are followed by a tasting of their gins, whiskies or a cocktail-making class. Within 30 minutes’ drive, you can see exotic animals in a quintessentially English setting at the Cotswold Wildlife Park, admire the regality of Sudeley Castle and its 10 landscaped gardens (or William Morris’s country retreat Kelmscott Manor), and have a dramatic or musical evening at the Barn Theatre.

Local restaurants

Ampney Crucis has much going for it (timeless charm, a gently babbling brook, cottages to ‘squee’ over…), but its only claim to gastro glory – and not an insignificant one – are the meals you’ll eat at the pub next to the hotel, which serves as its eatery. To mix things up at mealtimes you’ll need to head into restaurant-blessed Cirencester. Fellow Smith stay the Kings Head fires up serious longhorn and wagyu steaks at the Grill, and soups, pastas and other more casual eats at its MBB Brasserie. While Barnsley House’s the Potager is an eatery befitting its elegance with superlative seasonal fare: duck breast doused in miso butter, red wine- and star anise-braised octopus, stone bass with a slick of burnt-lemon pureé. And, to the east of the hotel, near Lechlade-on-Thames, the 17th-century Swan at Southrop has flagstone flooring and roaring fireplaces, and a menu that plucks the finest ingredients from the neighbouring estate, from hogget and organic eggs to a cornucopia’s worth of fruit and veg. 

Local cafés

New Brewery Arts is a community hub of makers, with a craft shop, art gallery and a welcoming space for sandwiches, cakes and coffee. Keep an eye out to see which all-ages workshops they’re holding too. And trays of ‘cookie pies’ (a sort of muffin -cookie hybrid), mini bundts and warm-from-the-oven cinnamon buns will lure you into Pretty & Pip, who also serve a tempting array of savouries. And, it’s a 40-minute drive away, but the Daylesford Organic Farm Shop in Kingham holds legendary status in the area for its top produce, stylish homewares, and covetable beauty products, and a cookery school where you’re connected with local farms and suppliers for courses covering dinner parties, brunches, vegan dining, pudding and pastry making and many more. The Trough café serves much more elegant fare than its name implies, with grass-pastured beefburgers topped with pale-ale rarebit, Jerusalem artichoke risotto with truffled brie, market-garden salads and cheese plates from its house creamery.

Local bars

Somewhere Else’s stone façade might promise a slightly different night than you’ll have in its much more modern interior, but you won’t be disappointed by the cocktail list that balances classics and a few house favourites (we like the Elderflower Bramble with Chambord or the passionfruit-laced caipirinha), stomach-lining burgers and street-food pop-ups. And, we’re taken with Téatro’s flamingo-sporting accent wall, multicoloured parquet and large terrace – live music and a lengthy gin list ensures the atmosphere is as vibrant as the decor.