The recently opened Soho Farmhouse in the village of Great Tew has helped turned the villages on the eastern edge of the Cotswolds, around the market town of Chipping Norton in England, into a house-hunting hotspot. Set amid beautiful rolling hills, the members’ club or "resort," an offshoot of the posh Soho House hotel and club, has become a hit with younger, creative types and helped put the area on the map.
Boundaries
The market town of Chipping Norton and its surrounding villages are on the eastern edge of the Cotswolds area, known for its pastoral beauty. The market town of Banbury is 12 miles northeast of Chipping Norton, the city of Oxford is 18 miles southeast, the town of Witney is 15 miles south and the spa town of Cheltenham is 28 miles west.
The A44 runs through the center of the town, providing access to Oxford and the M40, which connects to the capital.
Price range
In Chipping Norton, two-bedroom 18th century cottages start from £200,000 (US$250,000). Three-bedroom period homes range from £250,000 to £350,000 (US$315,000-US$440,000).
One of the most sought-after streets in Chipping Norton is The Leyes; three-bedroom Edwardian homes on this road sell for around £450,000 (US$566,000).
Homes in the surrounding villages are more sought after and expensive than Chipping Norton itself.
Kingham, a village with storybook looks located four miles from Chipping Norton, is characterized by period limestone-built row cottages and open village greens. There, a two-bedroom house costs £400,000 to £500,000 (US$505,000-US$630,000), and four to five-bedroom houses can sell from between £650,000 and £750,000 (US$820,000-US$950,000).
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Homes in Charlbury, a small stone-built town located seven miles from Chipping Norton, are about £50,000 (US$63,000) more expensive than Chipping Norton. In Woodstock, a market town eight miles from Oxford, you would need to add on an additional £70,000 (US$88,000).
Great Tew, where Soho Farmhouse is located; Wigginton; Ramsden and Swerford are also popular villages.
"Homes located in villages tend not to exceed £5 million (US$6.3 million)," said Rupert Wakley of Knight Frank.
Housing stock
Most houses are made from honey-colored Cotswold stone and date from the 18th and 19th centuries. Row cottages come with gardens but they tend to be small.
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What makes it unique?
It is in the dramatic rolling hills of the Cotswolds, a rural and mostly agricultural area in the central southern England that stretches across five counties.
The Cotswolds’s undulating landscapes and idyllic stone-built villages, towns and stately homes are considered to be some of the most picturesque in England.
Trails and bridleways crisscross over well-maintained countryside, making it a popular spot for walking, cycling, hiking and horse riding.
It’s a very rural area but it is not "cut off." Trains from Charlbury to London take about 70 minutes.
The area hosts two popular family-friendly music and food festivals, Wilderness and Feastival.
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Luxe amenities
Soho Farmhouse, of course, which is open to non-members who want to use some of its facilities for a fee, is a popular celebrity hangout. The members’ club-cum-hotel is set on a 100-acre estate and has a mill-room pub, a hair salon, outdoor swimming pool, tennis courts and a spa.
Daylesford farm shop/deli, café and cookery school is a fashionable shopping destination for organic groceries.
Kingham is home to The Kingham Plough, a gastropub that serves British classics such as slow braised oxtail, and The Wild Rabbit, an 18th-century building with a pub, dining room and rooms.
Burford School, a state secondary school that offers boarding, is considered one of the best in the area. The nearest private schools, however, are in Oxford.
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Who lives there?
A diverse mix of people including young families, city dwellers looking for a slower pace of life than London offers, and older couples. Because house prices are expensive, younger people struggle to get on the housing ladder.
Notable residents
It was recently reported that Victoria and David Beckham have bought a farmhouse a few miles outside Chipping Norton for £5 million (US$6.3 million). It is said that they were attracted to the area because of its proximity to Soho Farmhouse.
Popular with celebrities, media types and politicians, the Cotswolds’s famous residents are known as the "Chipping Norton set." "Top Gear" presenter Jeremy Clarkson lives just outside Chipping Norton, former Prime Minister David Cameron owns a large stone house in the nearby village of Dean and Blur bass player Alex James owns a farm on the outskirts of Kingham.
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Outlook
"The draw and appeal of the Cotswolds is as big as ever," said Rupert Wakley of Knight Frank. "Soho Farmhouse has helped to increase its value. My office has sold three to four houses in Kingham in the past three months and the sale prices were determined by competitive bidding."
And, he added: "Prices are rising because the demand has increased and there is shortage of stock. The Cotswolds are internationally known and it attracts buyers from London and overseas. About 50% of our buyers are from the capital."
Real estate agent Sam Butler of Butler Sherborn expects the supply of quality properties to continue to be limited, "although we did see this beginning to ease towards the end of 2016 and into 2017," he said. "People will remain disinclined to pay more stamp duty than necessary," he added, and "this will keep the focus on properties under the £1.5 million threshold, and especially those up to £925,000."
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That’s because there’s a jump in stamp duty for a property priced more than £925,000, from 5% to 10%, and for properties priced over £1.5 million, from 10% to 12%. But the levy is calculated on a progressive sliding scale so that the higher band of tax is only applied to the part of the price over the band threshold and up to the next one.