Hotel · Eastleach and Southrop
Thyme
The Hibbert family's estate round Southrop Manor, a mile from Eastleach: 31 bedrooms in restored farm buildings and cottages, the Ox Barn restaurant, a spa and pool, and a cookery school.
EV charging
A grown-up country house hotel spread through a farm hamlet, for long weekends of eating, walking and the spa. Over-12s only except in one village cottage, and the Ox Barn expects you to dress for dinner.
- Good: 31 bedrooms in houses, cottages and barns on a 150-acre estate
- Good: Ox Barn restaurant, Baa Bar and the Swan, the village pub
- Good: Meadow Spa with a pool, and a calendar of classes and suppers
- Worth knowing: Over-12s only, except in Old Walls, the self-catering cottage
- Worth knowing: Dogs in some cottages only, one a room, £50 a stay
- Worth knowing: Smart-casual dress code in the Ox Barn; 5% service charge on rooms
About
Thyme is the estate round Southrop Manor, a village a mile south of Eastleach. Caryn and Jerry Hibbert moved into the manor in 2002 and spent the next eighteen years restoring the derelict farm buildings beside it: first the Tithe Barn and a cookery school, finally the Ox Barn restaurant in 2020. The family still runs it.
Its 31 bedrooms are scattered through houses and cottages linked by gravel paths, from small Cosy rooms in the Farmhouse and the Lodge to two one-bedroom cottage suites with wood burners and the three-bedroom Gardener's Cottage, which sleeps six. Old Walls, a three-floor cottage in the middle of the village with two double bedrooms and a private walled garden, is let self-catering for families, with a two-night minimum. Beyond the rooms are the Meadow Spa and its outdoor spring-water pool, open in the warmer months, the Baa Bar, a kitchen garden and farm, and a calendar of talks, suppers and classes.
The estate is for over-12s except at Old Walls, and the Ox Barn takes children only at lunch. Dogs are welcome in some of the cottages, including the two cottage suites and Old Walls, one to a room and on a lead across the working farm; ask reservations which. The spa is for residents only at weekends. Full payment is taken on booking. The Swan, Thyme's village pub, takes children, and Eastleach and the River Leach starts a mile up the road.
The details
- Serving
- Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
- Rooms
- 31
- Check-in
- From 4pm
- Check-out
- By 11am
- Minimum stay
- Two nights in Old Walls and in the Gardener's Cottage.
- Features
- Garden or terrace · Restaurant · Bar · Spa · Swimming pool · Parking · Events and meetings
- History
- Restoration of Southrop Manor's farm buildings begun in 2002; complete in 2020
- Parking
- Free parking on the estate, with electric car charging. Arrive by the estate drive off the Lechlade road, not the village entrance.
Photos
The Farmhouse 
The Gardener's Cottage sitting room 
By the pool at the Meadow Spa 
A bedroom in the Lodge
Location
Nearby walks, places and things to do
- The Swan, Southrop 0.2 km away
- The Victoria Inn, Eastleach 1.8 km away
- The Five Alls, Filkins 3.4 km away
- Mulberry and Thyme, Hillier Garden Centre, Lechlade 3.6 km away
Sights nearby
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Keble's Bridge, Eastleach
Sight · Bridge · Cirencester and the Coln Valley
A clapper bridge of flat limestone slabs on rubble piers across the River Leach, the old footbridge between Eastleach Turville and Eastleach Martin, with medieval origins and the name of the Keble family. Grade II; free on a public footpath.
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St Michael and St Martin, Eastleach Martin
Sight · Church · Cirencester and the Coln Valley
The Norman church of Eastleach Martin, on the east bank of the River Leach facing St Andrew's across the water. Granted to Great Malvern Priory about 1120, it keeps a fine Decorated transept window and medieval pews. Grade I; Churches Conservation Trust; open daily.
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St Andrew's Church, Eastleach Turville
Sight · Church · Cirencester and the Coln Valley
St Andrew's is Eastleach Turville's parish church, by the River Leach and facing its twin across the water. Grade I, it has a carved Norman Christ in Majesty over the south door, a medieval saddleback tower and a lectern shaft from Tewkesbury Abbey.
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St Lawrence's Church, Lechlade
Sight · Church · Lechlade-on-Thames
Lechlade's wool church on the Market Place, rebuilt in Taynton stone in the 1470s, with a spire seen across the Thames meadows and a churchyard that moved Shelley to verse in 1815. Grade I; closed for restoration through 2026, with reopening expected by Christmas.