Double Red Duke

Style

Decadent duchy

Setting

Oxfordshire parish of plenty

Honey-hued hotel the Double Red Duke is a rare breed. For this Oxfordshire opening in Clanfield, Sam and Georgie Pearman (of the Lucky Onion and Country Creatures groups), have taken cues from the Arts and Crafts movement, creating characterful interiors using wallpapers, bathroom fittings, textiles and paints from heritage craftsmen. And at the restaurant, spot-on steaks and spit-roasted turbot, nose-to-tail nibbles and desserts mean you’ll need to lie down after. Lucky then, that your super-soft bed is just upstairs.

Facilities

Rooms

19, including three Family Rooms.

Checkout

11am. Earliest check-in, 3pm; both are flexible, subject to availability and a charge that ranges from £30 to £50 (no early check-ins in before 11.30am and no late check-outs after 2.30pm).

More Details

Rates usually include the Continental breakfast, a counter full with bircher muesli, homemade granola, pastries, fruit and sourdough from a local bakery (cooked items are available for an extra charge and are worth the splurge).

Also

Intimate weddings can be held in the charming 13th-century church opposite the hotel, and if you’re yearning for a feast of straight-from-the-shore fish and lengthily-cured free-range meats cooked over an apple-wood fire, private dinner parties can be arranged. Keep abreast of the hotel’s events too – curry nights, guest spots from starry chefs, and sociable barbecues inject a frisson of fun into nights here.

Free Internet Access

Pet Friendly

On-Site Restaurant

Room Service

At the Hotel

Snug, living room, garden, wellies to borrow, free WiFi. In rooms: TV, retro-style phone, Roberts radio, free WiFi, tea- and coffee-making kit, bathrobes and 100 Acres bath products. All rooms, except some of the larger rooms, have air-conditioning too.

Our Favourite Rooms

All rooms are so meticulously crafted using pieces from British makers, lucky vintage finds, Fermoie printed fabrics, bold Rapture & Wright wallpapers, Little Greene Paint Co’s colours and elegant bathroom fittings (and some beautiful rolltop tubs we’d love to be lying in right now) from Samuel Heath, that you’ll be pleased with whichever you pick. But, if you’re going by space alone, the Large Room certainly lives up to its name and has an attractive wood-beamed ceiling. Four-legged friends can stay here with you too.

Spa

The garden’s Shepherd’s Hut spa (open 10am to 6.30pm, Monday to Saturday) provides shelter and agrarian bliss. It’s where nimble-fingered masseuses use all natural oils and lotions from 100 Acres, scented with heady botanicals, to work out knots, recalibrate post-ramble muscles and coax colour back to complexations.

Packing Tips

If you’re considering an interior revamp back home, then bring a pad, because you’ll want to take notes. Bring tweed accessories too, in case of a spontaneous shooting party.

Also

If the heavens open while you’re here, head to the snug where there’s a stash of board games and a roaring log fire.

Children

Children of all ages are welcome; baby cots are available on request. The Family Rooms sleep up to four comfortably and there’s a dedicated menu for smalls in the restaurant.

Gallery

Food & Drink

Top Table

Pros like Turner and Sandiford make manning the grill pure theatre, so book the chef’s table for a front-row seat. For more intimate meals, tuck yourselves away at one of the dining room’s corner tables.

Dress Code

Bring something with a bit of give – you’ll want to indulge heartily here.

Hotel Restaurant

Double Red Duke’s restaurant is one of the most exciting spaces in the hotel — not least for its lively chef’s table. This is trip-down-memory-lane cooking with a fine edge, served in either the brick-lined dining room with two fireplaces at either end or the sage- and sienna-hued Orangery Room. The menu stars seasonal, locally sourced produce in its throwback favourites and imaginative outliers (wood-fired cod with blood orange gremolata is a notable stand-out). Desserts are equally comforting, with stick-toffee pudding, bakewell tart and homemade chocolates, so be sure to leave room.

If you plump for the Sunday roast, may we suggest a little bit of everything, because it’s all good. Breakfasts feel delightfully retro too, with the likes of devilled kidneys; steak, eggs and hash browns; and curried and shirred eggs to start your day, plus a posher take on Maccy D’s muffins: this version has bacon, sausage, egg and Ogleshield cheese.

Hotel Bar

The struggle is real here while deciding what to drink – the wine list unfurls to reveal sippers from all top appellations, and pints from local breweries such as Rook Wood and Clavell & Hind’s prop up the bar. If you need something to soak up the pints, the bar snacks are a temptingly roguish lot, ranging from lobster rolls with chilli-garlic butter and cheese toasties, to smoked sardines and bacon with ‘angry’ sauce and local sausages with rhubarb mustard.

Last Orders

Breakfast runs from 7.30am to 10am, lunch from 12 noon to 2.30pm and dinner from 6pm till 9pm (6.30pm to 9pm on Sundays). The bar pulls pints till 11pm.

Planes

Heathrow is the closest major international airport (around a 90-minute drive away via the M40) and Gatwick and Luton are both around a two-hour drive away, and limited services from Amsterdam and major cities in the UK arrive direct at Oxford International Airport, a 40-minute drive from the hotel.

Trains

Shipton and Oxford are the closest stations to the hotel, both a 30-minute drive away; for Shipton, trains from London Paddington arrive direct in just over an hour and for Oxford, catch the train from Paddington or Marylebone to arrive in an hour.

Automobiles

The hotel is easily accessed using the M40 or M4 motorways, and there’s free parking onsite. You can choose to pass through the Chiltern Hills or North Wessex Downs – either way you’re guaranteed a glimpse of green. And there’s free parking onsite and two chargers for electric vehicles.

Worth Getting Out of Bed For

Whether you’re snuffling through the warren of inviting snugs and sitting areas looking for a good book-reading nook, getting slathered with 100 Acres lavender- and chamomile-scented lotions in the shepherd-hut spa, downing something local with a good head on it in the garden or watching the chef hold court over a flaming grill, the hotel caters for cosseting and carnal pleasures. If you reach your limit of either, there are genteel pursuits close by, say a trip around Kelmscott Manor, or to Bampton Village and Blenheim Palace. The Cotswolds’ constellation of honey-hued villages make for a quintessentially British day of tea-shop cruising, antiques hunting, duck feeding and drinking with the locals – hop from Roman-settled market town Cirencester to Chedworth, Bibury, Bourton-on-the-Water and Burford. History buffs can trip along the Ridgeway Footpath to get a good view of the prehistoric Uffington White Horse, carved into Oxfordshire downland, or journey into Oxford proper to delve into old-school miscellany at the Ashmolean or Pitt Rivers museums, take the Oxford University and City Walking Tour and toast its literary darlings (CS Lewis, JR Tolkien) at former haunt the Eagle and Child pub.

Get to grips with local pastimes at the Oxfordshire Shooting School, then show off your newfound marksmanship at a shooting party on one of the surrounding estates (the hotel only works with the best reputed) capped with a meaty feast in the hotel’s private dining room. The largest inland lake area in the UK, the Cotswolds Water Park, and the South Cerney Sailing Club offer aqueous opportunities aplenty: swimming, waterskiing, kayaking, windsurfing, sailing, stand-up paddleboarding and more. If you've dogs in tow, Radcot Lock and its riverside paths and open meadows make for scenic, off-leash walks. For those without canines (and more stamina), the hotel’s a stop on the Carter Company’s 10-day Thames Sea to Source cycling tour, and the Country Creatures Cycling Tour, which traverses the Cotswold Hills on the way from the Thames to Clanfield, via the Double Red Duke’s sister properties. Or follow the trail on foot with the four-night Country Creatures Walking Tour, which covers four-to-seven miles a day.

Earn or Redeem Points with World of Hyatt

This Mr & Mrs Smith hotel participates in the World of Hyatt loyalty program. As a member, you can earn and redeem points and enjoy exclusive benefits for qualifying nights. .