‘Birds of a feather flock together’ says the ancient English proverb and it is certainly true that celebrities like to gather where their well-known peers can be found. And the hottest place on the planet right now for celebrity gatherings is the Cotswolds, where a flamboyance of flamingo A-listers can be found roosting amongst the humble local partridges (if you’ll forgive the avian metaphor). Jay Z and Beyonce are just the latest high-profile people whispered to be moving to a region that is already home to the Beckhams, Ellen DeGeneres, Ellie Goulding, James Blunt, Kate Moss, Amanda Holden, Simon Cowell and Lily Allen, to name but a few. But why the Cotswolds, and why now?
In truth, the Cotswolds has always been fashionable. It is where the ancient Romans built their country villas to escape from the bustle of Londinium. It has also always been a place of great wealth. The wool boom of the Middle Ages allowed the region’s sheep farmers to amass extraordinary fortunes, making them the hedge funders of the medieval era. They left behind an extraordinary legacy of manor houses, tithe barns and cottages, all built from honeyed Cotswolds stone, and which are now some of the most coveted homes in the world. The Cotswolds today is a designated National Landscape, and its beauty is globally famous. Every year, millions of tourists come to admire its gently rolling hills, ancient beech woods and river valleys, and to spend time in its picturesque villages. Places like Bibury, which William Morris once described as ‘the most beautiful village in England’. Forbes magazine recently went one better and named it the most beautiful village in the world. Its attractiveness is presumably why the design icons Marc Newsom and Sir Jony Ive have both bought houses nearby.
But despite its undeniable charm, the Cotswolds was, until recently, resolutely rustic and might have seemed terrifyingly backward to the sort of person who relies on massage therapists, dog groomers, and chauffeurs, to get through the grind of daily life. You couldn’t even get a decent cup of coffee. All that has now changed. The cappuccino crisis was remedied first, most brilliantly by the Australian run Lynwood & Co which first brought Sydney coffee culture to Lechlade in 2015. It now has a chain of nine cafes stretching across the Cotswolds, famed for their Flat Whites and sourdough bread, and patronised by the likes of Emma Watson, James McAvoy, and Benedict Cumberbatch. The Cotswolds has also become one of the most interesting food regions in the country with critically acclaimed restaurants like Juliet in Stroud, to outstanding pubs like The Bull in Charlbury (just named Best Pub in the UK 2025) and The Bell in Langford (where Giles Coren once described having the most delicious mouthful of food of his entire life). Wonderful butchers, food emporiums, and farm shops abound; including The Cotswold Guy in Guiting Power and Upton Smokery near Burford (which does a roaring trade in caviar around Christmas).
Around this has grown a quietly sophisticated infrastructure with all the amenities that celebrities might require; private doctors; highly capable household staffing agencies; bespoke security; and niche services that range from ‘concierge beekeeping’ to ayahuasca shamans and dog acupuncturists. This social ecosystem means celebrity life works here. And then, of course, there are the clubs; most notably Estelle Manor, Daylesford, and Soho Farmhouse. The ‘Farmhouse’ as it is known has singlehandedly stretched the eastern boundaries of the Cotswolds. It is particularly popular with A-lister Americans and Taylor Swift, Gwyneth Paltrow, Brad Pitt, Kendall Jenner and Tom Cruise have all been spotted in its Oxfordshire environs.
One of the greatest luxuries that the Cotswolds offers is privacy. Many of the houses here come with, high stone walls, woodland, and long drives, meaning no one is peering over a fence at you. There is no paparazzi culture. And in the celebrity haunts just mentioned, photography is actively discouraged. What’s more, locals are, on the whole, unimpressed by celebrity. When you are used to living alongside HM The King, the arrival of a pop star barely registers. The Cotswolds can allow a celebrity to feel unfamous. This leads to another truth: that Celebrities are attracted by power (which is different from fame). This is a land of Billionaires (The Bamfords, The Murdochs, The Dysons), Aristocrats (The Dukes of Marlborough and Beaufort), Politicians (David Cameron, Boris Johnson) and Royalty (Princess Anne, Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece, and of course the King); Genuinely influential people rather than ‘influencers’. For all the glamour of celebrity life, many stars find it refreshing, even grounding, to be among people whose influence is rooted in something older, more established, and less dependent on public adoration. It is one of the few places where a household-name actor may find themselves the least noteworthy person in the room. This can be curiously restorative.
And speaking of the restorative, another great draw of the Cotswolds is the desire for The Good Life. This is part of a nationwide cultural shift accelerated by Lockdown. A-listers are no different to so many of us who now crave a form of simple living and beautiful domesticity. The newly knighted Sir David Beckham is a case in point, having swapped his football boots for the wellington variety and never happier then when pottering about in his kitchen garden, feeding his chickens, and tending to his bees. He is more likely to be seen in a Harris Tweed jacket than a Dolce and Gabana sarong, as he props up the bar of his local (The Falkland Arms in Great Tew). Then, of course, there is Jeremy Clarkson, nowadays more comfortable driving a tractor than a supercar. The aspiration has shifted: grounded, not glossy. The Cotswolds offers this, but in a curated form. Real enough to satisfy the soul but supported by Pilates instructors and an electric charging point tucked away behind one’s historic barn conversion.
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Local reactions to the celebrity influx vary. Some residents roll their eyes and grumble about the very real rise in property prices; others quietly appreciate the economic boost. But among younger people there is a sense of pride: after decades of rural areas being culturally side-lined, they now live at the centre of something vibrant. And jobs in hospitality, design, wellness, and artisan food are flourishing.
When my clients, who are looking to buy a house in the Cotswolds, describe their dream home, the wish that most often appears at the top of their lists, is to be within walking of an excellent village pub. There is something uniquely British about this desire: to be part of a small community sharing the simple pleasures of an open fire and a pint of beer. Celebrities lust for this too. And the Cotswolds is where they come to find it.
By Katy Campbell – the Cotswolds’ leading house buying agent and author of ‘At Home in The Cotswolds’ @katy_campbell_house_hunter
