Inspiration

Five recommended hotels in Oxfordshire for a romantic getaway

Sawday's Expert

5 min read

With places worthy of everything from a treat weekend away to a big anniversary gesture, Oxfordshire is surprisingly overlooked as a romantic destination. Its gentleness and peace are often what you really need from time away with your other half, rather than the bling and brightness of big city lights that seem so tempting for those moments of celebration and connection. Here are a few of our favourite hotels and inns for a romantic getaway where you can discover Oxfordshire and rediscover each other.

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Artist Residence Oxford

A few seconds in the latest conjuring from Charlie and Justin Salisbury and you know that this isn’t just an artist’s residence, it’s a live-in gallery of style. It feels like everything from the light fittings to the rugs, via the menu in the cocktail bar, has been chosen to put a smile on your face, as every romantic weekend away should. You and your special someone can stroll under the dreaming spires, or hop into the Cotswolds countryside next door and ramble hand in hand through quaint villages. Either way, the whole experience will leave you feeling extremely relaxed.

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The Double Red Duke

This ancient hostelry has been welcoming couples on romantic breaks for centuries, although the careful renovation makes you a new part of the inn’s history, not stuck in it. Superb food and the Cotswolds on the doorstep have made it a destination pub, but it retains popularity with the locals as well. The whole place has a relaxed, upmarket air, but as well as a fine wine list to sit alongside the menus, there’s a battery of pumps at the bar serving locally made ales, so you can head here to celebrate a big anniversary, or just have some time together, and feel equally at home.

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The Swan, Ascott-under-Wychwood

Another little Cotswolds gem of a hotel from Sam and Georgina Pearman, the team behind a few lovely pubs and hotels in Oxfordshire and beyond, with superb food and a garden that makes you want to sit back on a summer evening and order that well-why-not bottle of white wine. There are two daily trains from London to Ascott-under-Wychwood, meaning you could pretty much pop down for lunch, but your partner would definitely be wowed by a surprise overnight stay.

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The Swan, Burford

Typical. You wait hours for a swan and then two come along at once. This one, in Burford in the west of Oxfordshire, is a bit of a classic, with old wooden settles in the flagstone bar and a rambling garden where free-range bantams strut among the benches. The food is seasonal and local, served in a laid-back setting and the hotel rooms upstairs are elegant and simple. This is a place for a relaxed retreat rather than a showy first date, with days whiled away at famous spots like Blenheim Palace and Charleston House, or on local strolls around Swinbrook and Whitney Lake.

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The Lamb Inn, Burford

The only surprising thing about the Lamb Inn, located on Sheep Street, is that they didn’t label the front door “baa entrance”. Everything else is the epitome of country pub charm. There’s a roaring fire, deep leather armchairs, cosy nooks in the bar and a pint of local cliches, or Hook Morton if you prefer, to wash it all down with. But the olde worlde charm so abundant in the Cotswolds sits alongside a sophisticated restaurant and stunning garden that push it firmly into “big romantic gesture” territory.

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Christopher Wilson-Elmes

Sawday's Expert

Chris is our in-house copywriter, with a flair for turning rough notes and travel tales into enticing articles. Raised in a tiny Wiltshire village, he was desperate to travel and has backpacked all over the world. Closer to home, he finds himself happiest in the most remote and rural places he can find, preferably with a host of animals to speak to, some waves to be smashed about in and the promise of a good pint somewhere in his future.

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