The Double Red Duke
This chic 17th-century hideaway is perfect for an indulgent pit stop, finds Madeleine Silver
YOU won’t miss it: rows of candy-stripe umbrellas standing as a welcoming party on the junction where this former wool merchant’s manor sits in the Oxfordshire village of Clanfield. This might not be strictly storybook-worthy Cotswold territory – the 17th-century Double Red Duke is nestled just on the edge of those honeypot villages – but where you’ve landed still feels like a Londoner’s country Mecca. Suspiciously clean 4x4s fill the car park, equally sparkly Hunters line the porch and everything inside is less shabby and incredibly chic.
But here’s the thing: the power of a break away from dog hair and piles of waiting-to-be-cleaned tack shouldn’t be scoffed at. Here is the perfect launching pad for a sporting fix or an indulgent pit stop as you criss-cross the country. An A to Z of equestrian fixtures are less than an hour away (eventing at Barbury, racing at Cheltenham, polo at Cirencester…); it’s in the midst of enviable shooting country (Little Barrington, Great Tew and Blenheim are within easy reach) and the hotel will act as a super-slick go-between with The Oxfordshire Shooting School and the Cotswold Clay Club. But the best part? However you fared on the peg – or whether your betting slip swiftly went in the racecourse bin – pale into insignificance once you sink into the deepest of roll-top baths or are two down on the encyclopaedic cocktail menu.
This is the third outpost from hoteliers Georgie and Sam Pearman, who have The Swan at Ascott-under-wychwood and The Chequers near Chipping Norton under their Country Creatures hotel banner. And so it’s no surprise that the pair have mastered the art of creating the sort of places that have the air of a friend’s incredibly tasteful home – with a flash of heady indulgence. The 19-bedroom Duke first opened its doors as we emerged, bleary-eyed, from the pandemic in May 2021, and this is the kind of set-up you might have dreamt of in those bleakest of lockdown days. English rosé flows from the bar on the terrace; there’s live music on the last Sunday of each month and it has its own wine society with well-oiled tastings. Think of it as your good-time friend: that person who guarantees a hefty dose of fun and overindulgence in equal measure. Even on a Tuesday night, the garden room was overflowing with locals sinking into the velvet-clad banquettes for dinner. No sleepy Shires here. And there is a rousing theatre to the menu with a flaming open kitchen, where 10 lucky guests get front-row action on stools at the counter. Fish directly from Brixham on the Devon coast is big on the menu (make a beeline for the scallop drenched in salty garlic butter) but there’s also smart pub grub, and when you’re too full for pudding, opt for the perfectly sized salted caramel chocolates.
For all the fun, there’s downtime too: panelled nooks to escape with a book; a shepherd’s hut for spa treatments and a choice of roomy baths and showers to defrost from a day in the field. No one would blame you for lying on your bed demolishing the jar of homemade cookies, Roberts radio whirring, wondering if you can muster the energy for a walk. Having your dog with you might just swing it (for £20 they can stay in one of the hotel’s garden rooms). But it’s the ‘gin hangover kit’, ordered on room service, that will guarantee to stir you from your post-party slumber as reality beckons.