Overview

Delightful attractive historical manor, with well maintained gardens and a joy to visit. You will enjoy taking a walk around the 12 acre estate, with lots to see. There is a secondary driveway to the Manor, it is the first gateway you will pass on this drive (photo 56) nothing more than a sandy dirt track, and winds it way left towards the Manor House (photo 57). You can then enter the front courtyard and drive to the fountain (photo 58) which in the warmer seasons has a concrete monument in the centre of the pool. You will find four electric car meters here to help you fill up for your electric car, quite convenient we must say. From the front door entrance and it’s step down, ( photo 59) take your wheelchair over to the left of the Manor House, and next to it you will find the courtyard to a lovely annex with its golden brown honey coloured Cotswold stone looking very nice in the afternoon sunshine (photo 60). Ride back to the house now, and continue ahead to turn right and go on the compressed ground to pass the side of the Manor (photo 61) were the rattan chairs and brollies will be placed out to catch the sunshine while you sit back with a gin and tonic in hand. Ahead is a large manured grass lawn, ideal for the kids to let their hair down (photo 62) and to your left is the entry to a well kept hedge lined garden area (photo 63) The main block of the house is rectangular with two projections at the rear of he manor (photo 64) enclosing a courtyard of just 45 x 30 feet. Ahead of this is a well maintained high hedge, with a pleasant easy stroll to the far end (photo 65) while over to the left of the rear, a well can be seen, in early 2023 undergoing renovation (photo 66) and over the bridge, maintenance work continues with repairing the wall that holds back any landslides (photo 67). Just beyond this sunken garden and to your right you will find the tennis court (photo 68) Running along the main drive from the Manor House to the main road, the front of the building have gables at each end, while the central porch is flanked by bay windows (photo 69) and there ia a row of deciduous trees called the Monks walk (photo 70) more than likely planted by the Bertie’s family. Across the meadow you can see the stables (photo 71) and one story concerns a Willoughby Bertie the 4th Earl of Abingdon who was then the owner of the manor, in that he bred race horses, and he had told his young stable boy to write the intended name of a horse on its fed box, “Potato” but the boy wrote Potoooooooo as a joke, but it amused Willoughby so much he decided to keep the name and made it official, and the horse became one of the finest and famous racehorses of the 18th century. OUR FINAL THOUGHTS ABOUT THE GROUNDS. Winter was not the best time for our visit, but we were still very much impressed by the layout, and how nice it looked, and with the ongoing works still in progress, it will really be looking good when the seasons start to unfold it’s colourful backdrop to the established trees, shrubs and hedging. We would recommend you going along then to enjoy the views, perhaps with another glass of G and T.

Transport & Parking

Very easy drive from Bicester, through open countryside views, and parking was very easy outside hotel.

Access

Sadly, this delightful old historical building is not yet wheelchair friendly, BUT we say NOT YET, hopes are high that they may be allowed to adapt the building next to main house into more bedrooms, with accessible rooms on the ground floor level, this will be ideal, as the house is not fully accessible, let’s hope that next year disabled will be able to stay here overnight, as it is a charming old manor. There is no lift, and bedrooms are upstairs, so at this moment we cannot recommend its use for disabled, and that is such a shame. However, if you feel you could manage a few steps, then we feel you would really enjoy this hotel. Most of the building can be made use however, so take a look at our photos and see what you think.

Toilets

Gentlemen are ok to a certain point, there is a gents in the reception lounge next to Bertie’s bar, but if you need to use the cubicles, then you have the problem of having to get Down three steps, then up again to return to the lounge. Ladies may also struggle as you have to go along a level corridor next to reception desk, walk along towards the far end of the delightful corridor, and down steps to then another passage and enter ladies on the right, which then has two steps for you to get up. We did not see any disabled toilet signs, but both toilets are very clean and of a reasonable size, and nicely decorated.

Staff

Very nice, friendly and well capable, nothing was to much trouble for them.

Photos