Feldon Valley

Feldon Valley, situated in Lower Brailes, Banbury and near many legendary Cotswold locations, offers the lure of a fine foodie and minibreak destination with all the shades of green!

We were lucky enough to attend their soft launch evening, on Thursday 23 May, to discover the incredible features of this brand new, luxury haven in the Cotswolds – there’s a lot to tell you!

Introduction

Feldon Valley began life as a golf course (which remains an important part of the business today). Newly added are four detached lodges, hotel rooms and a restaurant with views, whose Executive Head Chef is Darren Brown – a highly regarded chef from our region.

Feldon Valley’s ethos is about respecting and preserving the natural environment they are so lucky to be blessed with, enabling it to be enjoyed by all walks of life.

Darren’s cookery style showcases the finest local ingredients, making him a perfect match for Feldon Valley. We’re talking local cheeses supplied by The Cotswold Cheese Co., Cacklebean eggs, Alan Cox’s Asparagus, Tamworth pork from Paddock Farm, Cotswolds Distillery spirits and Hook Norton ale, just to name a few.

The architecture is cosy, contemporary and Scandi inspired. They’ve softly decorated with flashes of richly patterned fabrics. Wherever you look there’s a mezze of different textures alongside quality wooden furniture and wall to ceiling glass. You can enjoy a range of hot and cold drinks in the lounge area from the Hotel Coffee Bar.

With 13 bedrooms across 2 floor levels and 4 separate lodges, it’s not a massive hotel, but it’s clear they’ve chosen quality over quantity. Even the corridor to the rooms features a wall to ceiling window to make the most of the stunning scenery. But that’s not all…

If you’re lucky enough to be staying in one of the luxury lodges, here’s a photo of the boardwalk through the forest to the accommodation. We love this feature!

Bedrooms

During our tour we had a preview of two room types – a Standard Room and a Superior Room with spacious balcony. All the rooms offer a stunning view of the landscape through the floor to ceiling height windows, so even without a balcony, the exposure to nature isn’t compromised.

Every room has a personal tablet which guests can use to look up the restaurant menu and local events. There’s also a coffee machine and hypoallergenic bedding made from recycled plastic. The rooms are wheelchair friendly and dogs are welcome!

Leading away from the Main Lodge, via the forest boardwalk, are the 4 ‘pièce de résistance’ private lodges. They can be booked as whole units for larger groups, sleeping up to 7 people over 3 bedrooms and a sofa bed. They are equipped with a kitchenette and lounge space and guests have a choice of the golf course view or woodland view. Very family friendly or simply if you like a lot of space to yourself!

Check out all the room features here »

The Grounds

For our tour of the extensive grounds, we paired up and took to a golf buggy!

These buggies gave us the ideal platform to trundle cross country and check out the front of the lodges. Have a gander below…

Next stop was the newly planted kitchen garden which will offer Darren and his team close control over the produce they serve to customers. Next year they’re planning stage two which will be the addition of their own ‘bee hotels’ to give back to the environment, support the garden and supply honey to the kitchen.

After all that epic fun on four wheels we parked up outside the second of the two main buildings. This one houses the restaurant, fitness suite and golf club. Welcome to ‘The Kitchen’ at Feldon Valley…

As we entered the building we could instantly smell the sweet pine used to clad parts of the wall and couldn’t help but admire the gorgeous patterned fabric on the chairs. Airy, spacious, relaxed and with a touch of class is how we would describe the restaurant. The views are stunning, and the restaurant features a wraparound balcony with plenty of seating for those hot summer days we’re due shortly.

With so many light sources and all the natural light, the restaurant was perfect for the practising some food photography…

The Kitchen

Our first taste of Feldon’s fare was a perfectly formed roll, still steaming! They were served nestled in a blanket with lardo and whipped butter on the side. The fact the kitchen has one-upped regular butter shows us how carefully they are considering all touch points with the customer to ensure their meal will be as memorable as possible. Whipped butter is a revelation as it melts quicker than a block and glides on like a dream. As for the lardo – imagine bacon flavour spreadable lard – utterly divine. #baconmakeseverythingbetter

Starters

Main course

Dessert

*Please note the dishes change with the seasons and the availability of the local produce.

Menu highlights

Our ideal menu would be:

Alan Cox’s Oddington Asparagus with Cacklebean egg yolk
Paddock Farm Tamworth Pork
Strawberry Ruby Chocolate Dome with pistachio ice cream

These three courses together would cost £34 (June 2019), so fairly priced for such a high-end experience. Boost the value of your meal further by seeing if you can request a table with a view or on the balcony.

A few of the extraordinary highlights included the festive-spiced Eccles cake on the cheeseboard, which was inspired and original, the pistachio ice cream was the best we’ve ever had, the quality of the asparagus and richness of the egg yolk, the sweet carrot puree and pork from the main dish, the crumbled nuts on the carrot, the smell from the Ricotta dumplings, the crab sauce and tenderness of the Cornish plaice, the subtle honey parfait, the crab starter with glistening crystals… the list goes on!

Throughout the meal our hosts for the evening were very open to improvement suggestions, but the only comment we had was about the Cornish Plaice dish, which we felt required an element of crunch to vary the texture.

The Kitchen offers breakfast for £15 per person, which to us sounds incredible value as it includes cold buffet selection and cooked food.

The good thing is you don’t need to be staying at Feldon Valley to visit the restaurant!

Peruse the menu

View all the menus here »
(Do bear in mind they may change regularly).

The Kitchen is operating limited sittings for the coming weeks, but it’s easy to check availability online.
Book a table here »

A great idea would be to combine your visit to Feldon Valley with a tour of Cotswolds Distillery’s brand-new visitor centre which is just around the corner. That’s Kerry’s birthday sorted 😉

Thanks to Feldon Valley for letting us preview your fabulous destination. You’re an asset to The Cotswolds!

Get in touch!

If you’d like to ask us anything about our experience, do get in touch @Cotswoldfoodblog or email@cotswoldfoodblog.com

Kerry, Mike, Helen and Adam