the times Saturday April 30 202246 Travel
seen fit to record our family histories.
Reassured by Denham and Terry that
our every whim is their command, we gear
up to see how the other half lives. Unsur-
prisingly, it turns out to be very well indeed
and seems to include an astonishing
amount of food. We’re lucky enough to see
sunshine during our stay and soak it up
during long lunches on the suntrap ter-
race, sampling the dishes we’d approved
beforehand, including beetroot and red
onion tart and a more-ish roasted red
pepper and butterbean dip with focaccia.
The estate’s chefs and their recipes are
all MO rubber-stamped and, since its res-More exclusive than a hotel and more pampering than a villa, this stately pile
on an estate near Cirencester shows Susan d’Arcy how the other half live
‘I
t’s a home from home” is the hotel
industry’s most trotted-out tag-
line. But that’s the opposite of
what most of us want. Personally,
I can never keep on top of the
housework and could really do
with an extra room downstairs.
A home from home is exactly what my
husband and I aim to avoid on holiday.
We’d prefer something much grander —
an ancestral seat or a dukedom would be
nice. We hanker after high-spec square
footage and levels of privacy that are
generally only on offer when renting a
posh villa. The trouble is that nothing
destroys delusions of grandeur faster than
a pile of dirty dishes. Of course, rental
companies can organise housekeeping
and a private chef, but how much nicer is it
to stay somewhere that specialises in
offering the best of both?
Mandarin Oriental gets that and has
launched a collection of upmarket holiday
rentals, Mandarin Oriental Exclusive
Homes, in partnership with StayOne
(stayone.com). These include beachfront
villas in the south of France and private-is-
land pads in the Balearics. Crucially, they
come with Mandarin Oriental trademarks
— the service that Darcey Bussell de-
scribes as “second to none” and attention
to detail summed up by Stanley Tucci as
“all the creature comforts and then some”.
Happily, as these “unhotels” do not have
a revolving door of customers, the set-up
can be hyper-personalised, and with none
of the boring protocols. I feel titled the
moment I arrive at a 600-acre estate
outside Cirencester, as hares bound across
the drive and red kites circle overhead.
“Home” for the next two nights could
not be more 1 per cent unless we kicked the
queen out of Windsor Castle. I’ve been
asked not to reveal who owns the place,
but suffice to say that they feature in The
Sunday Times Rich List. The mansion is
premier league too, with the graceful
dimensions of the Georgian era including
a mellow-stoned symmetrical façade
complete with ornamental pediment, a
drawing room with pilaster columns and
a central staircase lit by a glazed cupola.
Appearances can be deceptive — this
award-winning building was completed
only in 2013. Don’t be disappointed,
though; this means that it has underfloor
heating instead of draughty windows,
steam rooms rather than damp patches in
the bedrooms and a Nigella-esque kitchen
with an integrated spit-roast grill so rain
needn’t entirely disrupt any barbie plans.
Denham, butler No 1, is Carson with the
cork removed. He greets us on the door-
step with a smile and hot towels — very
MO. These are infused with an uplifting
blend of mandarin, pink pepper, cedar and
vetiver that I recognise as the Mandarin
Oriental Hyde Park’s signature scent,
created by the London perfume house
Ormonde Jayne.
Like the rest of the team, Denham has
undergone training at the London prop-
erty and is now steeped in the group’s
modus operandi, the MO MO, so to speak.
He ushers us through a reception hall
hung with portraits of 19th-century
ancestors to a long drawing room where
the walls are lined with mustard-coloured
silk. Despite the colour palette being
softened by blush-pink and dove-grey
sofas, I feel as though I’ve fallen into a pot
of Colman’s, but when Denham mentions
that Coldplay recorded their most recent
album in this room, the decor grows on me.
Its sculpted white fireplace (shockingly
fitted with a gas fire) is adorned with
porcelain figurines, and the family furn-
iture includes an ornate lacquered cabinet,
a gift from the ambassador of an Asian
country — naturally. French windows
beckon us to grounds that unfurl into
rolling meadows and woodlands, while thegarden is cleverly zoned by espalier copper
beech hedges into cosy areas, so you could
avoid your fellow 19 guests if you wished (it
sleeps 20). There’s also an enchanting wild
pond, a fire pit, a tennis court, a croquet
lawn, an alfresco bar and a heated pool.
Terry, butler No 2, whose mutton chops
and pinstripes might have come straight
from central casting, suggests tea in the
elegant library. This time the first baron
stares down at me sternly from over the
mantelpiece and among the leather-
bound books is one that traces the family
back to the Napoleonic wars. My husband
and I rack our brains — nope, nobody hastaurants hold 25 Michelin stars between
them, that means the culinary offering in
the Cotswolds is a cut above your average
rental cottage. After an indecently gener-
ous afternoon tea including sandwiches,
dark chocolate and coconut cake, and
spiced banana loaf at the waterside sauna
and deck, we mix stints of searing heat
with ice-cold dips in a small lake fed by the
estate’s springs and shaded by poplars.
A fabulous three-course menu that
night undoes any benefits from our ther-
mal circuit — soused mackerel and roast
butternut soup followed by salmon with
samphire, new potatoes and spring peas,The holiday home that
comes with butler service
Luxury Cotswolds