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Say “the Cotswolds” to any seasoned traveler, and a vision of classic British countryside living quickly springs to mind. Cobbled streets lined with rambling chocolate box cottages, with limestone facades covered in vines and spring blossoms? Check. Sweeping meadows dotted with cows and trimmed with wildflowers, soundtracked by a chorus of morning sparrows? Check. Stately homes and gardens to wander through on a lazy afternoon, followed by a visit to a cozy pub to enjoy a pint by the fire? Check.
Yet what lends the Cotswolds its unique magic isn’t just its beauty, but the heart and soul—and community—that keeps this beauty alive. (These villages may look like picture-postcard idylls, but it takes a lot of upkeep to ensure they stay that way, and to avoid them becoming a kind of Jane Austen Disneyland.) It’s a fact that Caryn Hibbert, the founder of Thyme—a sprawling estate within the village of Southrop that is nominally a hotel, but feels more like its own, self-contained hamlet—knows all too well. Having first moved to the area from London in 2002 with the intention of opening a cookery school, Hibbert has slowly—and, yes, organically—evolved Thyme into a 150-acre paradise that now encompasses a farm, restaurant, pub, spa, and 31 rooms spread across the various barns, manor houses, and outbuildings that make up the estate.
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Not content with having established a beloved countryside getaways for weary Londoners, a few years back, Hibbert—in collaboration with her daughter, Milly, who now works as the property’s general manager—quietly launched her very own homewares brand: Bertioli. (As much as the Hibberts like to keep things in the community, with most of the staff coming from the surrounding villages, they also like to keep things in the family: their son, Charlie, is head chef at the Ox Barn restaurant and The Swan pub nearby, while Bertioli’s name stems from that of Caryn’s father.) “The collection enables our guests to truly take a piece of Thyme home,” Hibbert says of what prompted her to launch Bertioli. “It’s the next chapter in our story—it’s what we call the coloring in.”
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“Coloring in” quite literally: Every one of the Bertioli wallpapers and textiles is created from watercolors painted by Hibbert herself. “My inspiration is very organic—it starts with a walk in the garden, observing plants when they are at their very best,” she explains. “Each pattern has been painted from nature: a cut stem from the garden placed in a vase and drawn.” And now, the world of Bertioli—which has already grown to span fragrance, beauty, and clothing—is expanding once more, as Hibbert’s hand-painted blooms creep their way into the hotel itself. For the first time, the brand has planned an immersive, 360-degree unveiling of its new Cutting Garden collection, launching the new set of wallpapers and fabrics (and even a new home scent) alongside four refurbished bedrooms at Thyme decked out in head-to-toe Bertioli.
The spirit of the rooms is unabashedly maximalist: pink phloxes overlaid upon further pink phloxes, offset with custom-made dusty pink headboards courtesy of a local furniture maker; or the deep, ravishing purple of elderberry leaves covering every wall to create a rhythmic repeating pattern that manages to be strangely soothing rather than overly busy. (That soothing quality is probably aided by the new, cutting garden-inspired fragrance the Hibberts have concocted to recreate the aroma of fresh flowers, and that perfumes every one of the new rooms through candles and diffusers.) The plan, Hibbert explains, is for every room in the hotel to embody one of Bertioli’s collections—but like everything else about Thyme, that will happen at a steady, considered pace. “It is the coming together of everything we have created over the years—it feels as though we are coming of age!” she says, with a laugh. “It is our 21st year, after all.”
On a recent visit to Thyme in early spring, I soon discovered that the dialogue between the hotel and its surroundings is infused into every aspect of your stay. I spent my first afternoon at the property paying a visit to the stylish spa, which is its very own “village within a village,” spread across a greenhouse, cottages, and stables, with a wildly pretty spring water pool crafted from black slate just around the corner. After being guided to a dedicated “botanical bothy” outbuilding—a hammam-like space with tables crafted from natural resin, and an outdoor bathtub and private garden to enjoy a sage and honey tea while soaking post-treatment—I was led on a genuinely transformative ritual that began with a breathing exercise aided by a fragrant balm, featuring river mint and eucalyptus inspired by the nearby water meadow. (These too are Bertioli products, and I was sure to take a bottle home with me so I could recreate their blissfully relaxing effect back in the big smoke.) Next, I was guided through a breathwork session that involved a pressure-point massage on one of those heated tables, before being scrubbed down and having my hair washed using one of their ingenious body and hair soap bars, to which I’m now firmly a convert. By the time I was in the tub outside, sipping my tea, I was practically floating.
Elsewhere, Thyme’s culinary offering was similarly impressive, not just because the food here is universally delicious—which it is—but for the thoughtfulness and attention to detail that has clearly informed every choice. At the Baa Bar (named as such for the custom-made stuffed sheep sculptures that double as seating) before dinner, martinis infused with homemade botanical distillations of quince, rosehip, or apple were served. Then, I was led to the striking Ox Barn, an enormous dining room with soaring wooden beams and a theatrical open kitchen, that has been cleverly configured to also feel cozy, with fireplaces and shaggy blankets over the seats to keep you warm while enjoying farm-to-fork British classics with a French twist. There, I had a fried artichoke from the garden with a side of zingy, lemon-infused goat’s curd, followed by a perfectly charred sirloin steak—sourced from a local beef supplier, naturally—with a side of shatteringly crisp, fluffy-on-the-inside chips. (Guests are also encouraged to take the short walk through the village to the pub, The Swan—a favorite of Kate Moss—which serves hearty Sunday roasts alongside seasonal classic pub fare.)
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Even with all this indulgence—and having enjoyed the luxurious trappings of my Cutting Room-decorated guestroom, taking a long morning soak using generous helpings of the Bertioli products stocked in every bathroom—the real magic of Thyme lies in its earthier undercurrent. On a Sunday afternoon, as I (reluctantly) prepared to head back to London, Hibbert invited me on a walk through the water meadows and kitchen gardens. After I’d slipped on a pair of Wellington boots helpfully supplied to me by a friendly staff member, we walked down to the water meadows, and Hibbert plucked the mint that grows on the banks so I could sample its scent while regaling me with stories of some of her best nature sightings around the estate, not least, the birds that flock here every summer, migrating all the way from sub-Saharan Africa. (Thyme is working with the British Trust for Ornithology to more closely study the air-borne fauna that populate its acrage.)
Wandering back through the meticulously maintained vegetable gardens—on the cusp of spring, the first produce of the season was beginning to sprout—I could see why Hibbert felt so inspired to bring the outside world in. “The beauty of it is that the inspiration for this collection never ends,” she noted. “The flowers come and go as the seasons change, and I will continue painting them—adding to the Cutting Garden for years to come.”
