Insider’s Guide with Katharine Sohn
Katharine is a travel and lifestyle writer, photographer and creative consultant. She spent a number of years working in-house at Condé Nast Traveller magazine in the UK before diving head-first into the freelancing world.
She currently writes trend pieces, food stories and travel insights for the New York Times’ T List, House & Garden and British Vogue. You can often find her running around the countryside with her film camera slung around her shoulder or swirling spaghetti at a locals-only trattoria in Italy. Here she shares a few insights and secret discoveries from her newly found home in the Cotswolds.
How long you have visited and or lived in the Cotswolds?
I’ve lived in the Cotswolds, purely, for about a year now. We’ve just moved into a new home over the summer (the renovations are in full swing…yikes). But I’ve been visiting for well over a decade. My very first time in this part of the world was for a dreamy overnight stay at The Wild Rabbit.
My favourite spot is…
There’s a bench on the side of the (often busy and fast) road that leads to Charlbury. It’s just fields around there but my fiancée and I have always said we’d love to build a big house right there with that view. It just goes on forever. Of course, the traffic would be loud…but we’d figure it out.
My favourite view of the Cotswolds is…
The apple orchard outside my cottage window. There is this cluster of big bushy trees just crowded with apples of all colours. During the Autumn, they practically look like Skittles. They’re perfect for scrumping…just don’t tell my neighbours.
My favourite place to escape in nature is…
Inside the grounds of Kelmscott Manor – the Arts and Crafts home of William Morris – there’s a stretch of garden and grass right next to a little section of stream that leads to the Thames. It’s perfect, particularly on a sunny summer’s day, with the roses and hollyhocks, and a good book.
The best place to go early in the morning is…
Anywhere you can find misty lanes, cow parsley crowded fences and foggy valleys. We recently discovered the Coleshill Estate which is just totally pretty first thing in the morning. Otherwise, find me grabbing a large coffee at Blake’s Kitchen which is conveniently right there too. The buns…
Something only locals know is…
When it’s time for the farmers to harvest…you really do need to move your parked car…
My foodie go-to is…
Now this depends…because we are completely spoiled out here. For just-baked bread it’s Sourdough Revolution in Lechlade, for tin Thalis on a Thursday it’s the Organic Farm Shop, for flat cider and suet-crust pies it’s The Woolpack in Slad and for secret garden farm-to-fork sensational seasonal plates it’s Worton Kitchen Garden. I can’t share any more secrets though…
My cultural fix is…
It also happens to be one of my favourite walks but most of the Mitford sisters are buried in the beautiful church in Swinbrook. It can feel a little spooky sometimes but they’re a completely fascinating family. Follow along the walk that leads past the Widford plague church in the valley…now talk about spooky.
My nighttime escape is…
I suppose we aren’t really nighttime escapers (we’d rather claim a corner of our local The Bell in Langford or have friends over for supper), but if we’re craving that little bit more we’d head into Oxford…a jazzy (and slightly later) dinner of Spanish plates at Arbequina or two-bite tacos at Bigfoot, with a margarita of course.
A misconception about the Cotswolds would be…
That it’s just a weekenders hotspot, which is true to an extent, but push past the fully booked pubs or the tourist-filled villages (Bibury’s Arlington Row, we’re looking at you) because there are so many more lovely places to see.
Three words to describe the Cotswolds…
Pastoral, pretty and quiet.
All imagery is kindly shared by Katharine, you can follow her on Instagram here. Katharine also runs her travel tips and musings newsletter Cherry Press – a space filled with tidbits about life in the Cotswolds, insider guides, industry interviews, fun trends and Oxfordshire murmurings, plus lots of juicy insights from her travels.
