Hotel reviews: Foxhill Manor and Dormy House
Last weekend, I was lucky enough to return to one of my favourite estates in the UK with Small Luxury Hotels: the glorious Farncombe Estate in the Cotswolds, which is home to Foxhill Manor, Dormy House, and The Fish. I've previously written about visiting The Fish, and having loved my experience here, was so excited to get to visit its sister hotels Foxhill Manor (which is the most luxurious of the trio) and Dormy House (famous for its renowned spa).
As Small Luxury Hotels runs an INVITED programme, which is free to join and gives you complimentary perks, it made sense to book through them - they also have over 520 hotels in over 80 countries. See below for my reviews of both properties and then head over to book your stay!
Foxhill Manor
First impressions: 5/5
Situated on the stunning Farncombe Estate in the heart of the Cotswolds, you’ll pass through a beautifully scenic drive before arriving at Foxhill, which is an impressive, renovated country manor.
There are only eight bedrooms in the house, each of which is named after a different kind of tree, and all of which are spacious and beautifully furnished. Our room, Chestnut, featured a modern four poster bed, a sofa area with a generous chaise lounge, and even our own dining table; a subtle light green colour scheme ran throughout the room, with windows on three sides of the space allowing for lots of natural light and stunning views over the estate, whilst the bathroom featured a huge walk-in shower and freestanding bathtub.
The communal hotel spaces are equally as elegant: the two main rooms to relax in are the large lounge, and the hotel bar, both of which have roaring fireplaces, drinks bars to help yourselves, and plush sofas and tables to sprawl across. The entire hotel runs on a private house concept, which means that you’re encouraged to make the property your home: there’s no formal dining area, and you’re welcome to eat wherever you choose, whether that’s a table in the bar, in your bedroom, or even whilst watching a movie in the cinema room. To add to the private house concept, the property is entirely exclusive to its hotel residents: you won’t find any passersby popping in here!
To do: 4/5
Foxhill is the type of property you visit to relax and unwind, which is just what we were looking for. If you want to explore the estate, you’re welcome to grab a pair of wellies and raincoat by the front entrance, or if you’re keen to explore further afield and wander around some nearby villages, the friendly staff are readily available to give you complimentary lifts into town. We ventured into Broadway, which is the closest Cotswolds town to the hotel, and spent the afternoon peeking amongst the shops and popping into Broadway Deli for coffee - when we wanted to head back to the hotel, we simply gave the staff a ring, and they came to transport us back to Foxhill.
Although there’s no spa at Foxhill Manor, residents are welcome to use the spa facilities at sister hotel Dormy House, which is only a short drive away (and which you can get a complimentary shuttle to and from). If you’re planning on staying indoors, Foxhill is the perfect place to curl up with a book in front of the fire thanks to the peaceful hush throughout the property; otherwise, board games are scattered throughout the communal areas for your amusement, and there’s the cinema room which you can book out for yourself.
Food and drink: 5/5
The food and drink offering is one of the most unique of Foxhill’s features; rather than having a formal dining room and menu, you’re encouraged to pop into the kitchen and speak to the chef about what you fancy eating each day. He’ll have some words scratched onto the blackboard to help jog your imagination (also based on the seasonal produce available on the day), but part of the fun is in bouncing around ideas and tailoring these to your tastes - at lunchtimes, simply visit the kitchen to decide whatever soup or sandwich you’d fancy (I had the best chicken and avocado sandwich that I’ve ever eaten here).
For dinner, the chefs will whip up a delicious three-course meal of your choosing; you can be specific about the flavours, and they’ll tailor this around any dietary requirements. During our stay here, we enjoyed pumpkin tortellini with tenderstem broccoli, followed by hake served with smoked fennel, with sticky toffee pudding to finish: each course was as flawless as the next. Breakfast is treated as just as much an important affair: choose one of the tables in the lounge for views over the estate, and you’ll get brought a generous spread of granola, fruit, and croissants to begin with, before moving onto a cooked breakfast of your choosing; pancakes, avocado toast, full English…you can literally order whatever you fancy.
If you’re still peckish throughout the day, the chefs have thought of various ways to keep your stomach satisfied: from homemade scones that you can request at any time, to the fully stocked and complimentary pantry available for you to raid, (featuring sandwiches and freshly baked cakes) you certainly won’t be left hungry here.
Comfort and service: 5/5
Staff at Foxhill Manor are incredibly friendly and knowledgeable about the property and well-versed in all of its features. Due to the property’s small size and the number of residents, there’s only a small team of five or so who take on all duties between them, whether that’s greeting you upon arrival, shuttling you across the estate, or waiting on you at meal times. Because of this, staff will become familiar and friendly faces, which only adds to the homely appeal of the hotel.
Given that there can only be 16 guests maximum staying in the property at any given time, the house never felt busy or crowded at all during our stay, with plenty of space to lounge around. The atmosphere throughout Foxhill is overwhelmingly peaceful, which isn’t always the case even at the most luxurious hotels. We loved how the majority of guests were couples (children are very rarely allowed at the hotel): it really is a wonderfully secluded and romantic escape.
From the stunning interiors, to the delicious dining experience and flawless service, our stay at Foxhill was absolutely faultless. It’s certainly one for a special occasion (staying here isn’t cheap!), but it’s definitely worth the expense in our opinion; you feel like every penny is worth spending here, and we’re planning on returning as soon as we can.
Dormy House
First impressions: 4/5
Our second night on the Farncombe Estate was spent at Dormy House, sister hotel to Foxhill Manor and The Fish, and historically the longest-standing member of the hotel trio. Functioning as a larger hotel than Foxhill Manor, there are 38 bedrooms throughout the property, and interiors are typical of your cosy, quintessential Cotswolds property with a contemporary touch: think exposed honey-coloured brick walls, comfy sofas, and wood-burning stoves scattered throughout the living areas, but bolder colour schemes and artworks in some of the dining spaces.
Our bedroom was one of the hotel’s suites, and is aptly named ‘The Attic’, given its location underneath the eaves of the property, and its views onto the fields beneath. Featuring a pink colour scheme, our bedroom had pale pink floral wallpaper, a king-sized bed with a plush velvet loveseat, a sofa and TV area, and bathroom with a bath and walk-in shower big enough for two, with ‘him and her’ shower heads. It was a perfectly cosy spot to curl up from the cold, and we could have easily spent longer than one night sleeping here.
To do: 5/5
For outdoor types, the beautiful estate is of course available to roam (we spent one of our days walking all the way to The Fish and back, which is situated at opposite ends of the estate to Dormy) but the real jewel in Dormy’s crown is without a doubt its famous spa, which is situated at the back of the hotel.
Featuring not one, but two (!) gyms, a swimming pool and hydro pool, sauna, individual treatment rooms, manicure booths. and a spa cafe with plenty of relaxing lounge space and even an outdoor terrace in summer, it’s easy to see why Dormy makes for the perfect pampering destination, as you could easily spend an entire weekend here enjoying the impressive facilities.
In the evenings, sprawl across the sofas in the communal lounges, where there are plenty of board games to choose from.
Food and drink: 3.5/5
Dormy has three restaurants to choose from, as well as the spa cafe. On our first night, we ate dinner at The Potting Shed, which is the hotel’s cosy, pub-like restaurant. Featuring hearty British classics such as fish and chips, or chicken Kiev, with apple crumble for dessert, the menu here isn’t the most innovative, but the food was certainly tasty and filling.
For a more formal dining experience, the Back Garden restaurant offers a different and more contemporary experience, both in menu offering and atmosphere (think bold colours and patterns throughout the interiors). We didn’t have the chance to try the lunch or dinner menu here, but this is where breakfast is served each morning. Featuring a continental breakfast spread (toasts, jams, hams, cheeses, and cereals), and a cooked menu, this was our one dining experience throughout our stay that we found a little underwhelming: our cooked breakfasts were flavourless, and portions were small. As a breakfast lover, it’s often disappointing to experience luxury hotels that don’t make the same effort over their breakfast offering than they would over lunch or dinner - which is typically the case when breakfast is included within the room rate.
Fortunately, our lunch in the spa cafe made up for this: offering health-focussed options (and some more indulgent), we enjoyed a relaxing meal here, including a tasty fried chicken burger and melt-in-the-mouth homemade blackberry and orange cake. Another sweet touch we appreciated upon checking out of our bedroom, was the delicious home baked chocolate cookies we were given to take away with us.
Comfort and service: 3.5/5
Staff at Dormy House ranged from the incredibly welcoming reception staff and friendly spa staff, to waiters in the restaurant who weren’t as attentive as we would have hoped - staff in both restaurants seemed a little stressed during our stay, with our breakfast order being put through incorrectly on two separate occasions.
We did find that as we were staying at Dormy across a weekend, the property was very busy in both the restaurants and the living areas: there was still ample space to lounge around, but the hotel has local visitors passing through as well as hotel residents, which adds to the number of guests you’ll find occupying the communal spaces.
I’d recommend Dormy House if you’re looking for a spa escape in the Cotswolds, that has cosy and welcoming interiors and a tasty lunch and dinner offering. The spa facilities are certainly impressive, and this part of the hotel is extremely peaceful, given that it’s hidden away and only open to patrons.
Both of these stays were gifted through Small Luxury Hotels, but all opinions are my own. I do not accept and write about gifted stays unless I truly enjoy them.
