Livinright

Hi Lois,

When I went to the Cotswolds I did not want to miss the Slaughters. I had tea at Lord of the Manor in Upper Slaughter. It was quite wonderful, in a room that had large windows overlooking the countryside. It happened to be snowing and it was quite magical (tea was delicious!).

On a subsequent trip I went for tea at Lower Slaughter Manor. It too was lovely. The rooms were a little more richly decorated and, when I was there, it was a little busier than Lord of the Manor.

I loved both and would grab the chance to go back to either! Lord of the Manor gave me the feeling that I was a private guest and Lower Slaughter seemed more of a "destination" for people in the know. This is just my experience, of course. Either spot will make you feel that you going for a weekend in the country to visit the landed gentry!

Livinright

Sorry, I meant to mention that one of the spots we stayed was Bibury Court. The tea was very pleasant, but not my favorite. I would not go out of my way to get there, but would be happy to enjoy it out if I was in the area. Hope this helps.

In Burford we stayed at the Bay Tree Hotel and was disappointed to miss tea there. Our itinerary each of our days there prevented it. However, if in Burford at teatime I would check it out for sure !

MmePerdu

..."it takes a great deal more than stalker nutters or a few terrorists to allow a right of way to be rerouted." flanneruk

That was my impression of the right-of-way in UK law and am glad to know it's held in this case too. I feel better now.

As for tea at Highgrove, it's possible, depending on your dates. There appear to be reservations availabe for the garden still on a few dates in May onward with access to the restaurant (and cream teas). http://www.highgrovegardens.com/garden-tours.html

LoisL

Thank you all for wonderful, helpful suggestions. We will be staying in Bourton on The Water, but plan to explore the whole region. It never occured to me that I would need reservations outside of cities ( ie when we did tea at the Langham in London). Good to keep in mind.

flanneruk

You need to pre-book access to the Highgrove garden partly so you can be security vetted (I doubt you're allowed into the private home of your country's next Head of State without some prior checking into your security history): access to its tearoom is possible only if you're got (and paid for) an approved booking for the garden tour, but there's no booking needed for tea.

Nowhere in the area requires tea bookings, in spite of the claims on its website by the Bibury Court, though the handful of really good restaurants most certainly do require booking for lunch or supper. At a recent Flannerclan wake, Bibury Court guests in the adjacent sofas were being refused tables for supper because the place was full.

LoisL

Unfortunately, when checking availability, Highgrove was booked two months prior to our arrival. I look forward to checking out other suggestions.