A relaxing weekend at Barnsley House and Spa

My husband gives the most amazing gifts. For my birthday in February, one of his gifts to me was a weekend away at the gorgeous Barnsley House in the Cotswolds. Lucky me!

We got the train from Paddington on a Friday afternoon and in less than two hours we had arrived. The nearest train station, if you’re arriving by train, is Kemble and the hotel is about a 15 – 20 minute taxi ride away (which cost around £23).

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Upon arrival we were welcomed and then shown around the hotel before being shown to our room. The weather was pretty miserable so it was lovely to see a real fire in the lounge areas.

As well as the lounge by the entrance, there’s another lounge area with a fire place and also a board games nook. Perfect for rainy days!

And if it is rainy – or the ground is wet from the rain – and you fancy going for a walk, they’ve got you covered! Wellies of every size catered for. I loved this – so quirky! And handy too.

There’s also a cinema that you can book out to watch a film – with a popcorn machine! We didn’t book and every time I tried to take a photo, it was busy so no photos unfortunately!

Our suite

After we’d had a quick tour of the hotel, we were shown to our room – the Davina suite. It’s huge! There’s a separate, large lounge and dining area and then the bedroom – with a gorgeous roll-top bath – and a separate bathroom with a massive walk-in shower. I loved the beams and period features of the room.

As it was my birthday, they had left a lovely handwritten birthday card on the bed with a small box of chocolates. A lovely touch and much appreciated!

The room is situated upstairs in a building adjacent to the main hotel. There was lots of lovely natural light and lovely views from some of the windows.

The lounge area is large with a sofa, armchair and also a dining room table.

If you’d forgotten to bring a book with you, they had you covered! There must have been around 20 books scattered around the room as well as a pile of magazines in the lounge area. I had brought my own book with me though and enjoyed spending time reading over the weekend.

The room was stocked with a mini fridge, snacks and tea and coffee with delicious homemade shortbread. The coffee was very good and went perfectly with the biscuits! I loved the little design details, such as the wooden seedlings box to display the snacks.

The roll-top bath was pure luxury. I do love a roll-top bath and having one in the room felt very indulgent. There were some lovely bath salts to use too.

The bathroom had a huge shower and was stocked with Ren toiletries. To be honest, I only showered once because I wanted to have a bath instead!

The bed was super comfy. For us though the pillows were too soft so we had to ask for firmer ones, which they delivered to our room. The firmer pillow was fine for me but my husband still found it a bit too soft so he didn’t sleep as well as he normally does. Usually he brings his pillow from home (because he is so fussy) but he hadn’t this time. Next time I’ll remind him!

The Spa

Barnsley House has a spa tucked away in the corner of their garden, with an outdoor hydrotherapy pool, sauna, steam room, five treatment rooms and a relaxation area.

We hadn’t booked any treatments but we did make use of the facilities on both days of our stay. The outdoor pool is heated and has Jacuzzi jets which gently massage you. It was so nice to relax and chill out, especially when the weather was so horrible outside (it was really windy. And very cold getting out!).

Inside there’s a lovely lounge area where you can have a drink and relax and read or wait for your treatment.

The Potager

On our first night we dined at the hotel restaurant, called The Potager. The restaurant was pretty busy, although that’s to be expected as it’s the only restaurant in the area apart from The Village Pub, which is also owned by the hotel. We were one of the last (or maybe the last) table to leave, which is when this photo was taken!

The food was excellent! Most of the vegetables, salads and herbs all come from their kitchen garden. You can tell that everything is made with love. The cheese souffle starter in particular was delicious and beautifully presented.

The absolute star of the show though was the Vincigrassi, which is their house speciality. We ordered one to share as an in-between course but I wish we’d ordered one each! It was like a sort of lasagne. So, so good.

We both ordered the beef as our mains and ordered it medium rare, however it was served more medium to well done. It was still very tasty though and we were happy to eat it. And the potatoes were so good!

And of course there was still room for dessert! Although just ice-cream for me as I was pretty full…

On our second night we ate dinner at The Village Pub, which is about 100 metres up the road. The pub itself is lovely and it was packed on the Saturday night so there was a great atmosphere. The food was nice but not as good as the food at The Potager. If we return, we’d probably go for lunch or afternoon tea rather than dinner.

Breakfast at The Potager was a treat as we normally just have toast on the weekend! They have a buffet table of cereals, pastries, yoghurt and fruit and then there’s a menu to order hot dishes. On the first morning I had poached eggs with spinach and a hashbrown (so yum) and my husband had a bacon butty (which he said was quite dry as the bacon had been overcooked). The second morning we both had a full English, which was very good. The bacon this time was perfect and the sausage was very good quality. Top marks!

Thoughts on our stay

We had a wonderful stay at Barnsley House. Our room was spacious, luxurious and very comfortable. The spa was such a treat, even in the cold weather. Our meal at The Potager was delicious and next time we’d eat there twice! If you’re looking for a relaxing weekend away from the hustle and bustle of the city, then this is the place to go.

If you fancy seeing more of the Cotswolds, then check out this 48 hour itinerary.

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