Visitors to Cirencester, in the heart of the Cotswolds, have been staying in the building that is now the Kings Head since the English Civil war, perhaps earlier. King Charles II is said to have laid his head in this very location. But in its current guise, following an extensive renovation, the 45-room hotel bears about as much resemblance to its past as a coaching inn as the well-heeled streets of the city do to the original Roman market town.
Spacious rooms have been done out in a heritage palette of restful greys and warm earth tones, with accents of colour in tartan wool bedheads or throws – an echo of the distinctive hue of Cotswold stone and the area’s wool industry past.
Bathrooms are modern grey, with open rain showers, freestanding baths and products from Lubatti, sister company to Jo Malone.
Yet, as general manager Stephen Mannock explains, if you start digging in Cirencester you soon hit Roman artefacts. The hotel’s six-year renovation involved an impromptu archaeological dig after they hit a Roman road, and many of their discoveries shine through. A mosaic lies where it was found, displayed under glass in the reception hall, walls have been taken back to the brickwork beneath, and beams and ironwork from the original 17th-century hotel have been restored.
As I climb the stairs, the ornate heads on the iron banister reveal its long-forgotten creator’s sense of humour – turning from youthful on the ground floor to bald and wrinkly three floors up.
The hotel makes the most of its high street position and on Friday night the restaurant and bar are buzzing with locals as well as guests. The menu is modern British, with steaks and meat cuts cooked on a Japanese Robata grill. It’s worth dining in for. The cod with samphire was excellent – fresh, delicately flavoured and served by friendly and helpful staff – while my eggs Benedict the next morning were cooked to the letter, with doorstep-thick honeyed ham.
A post-breakfast stroll around Cirencester is easy on my slightly hungover eye. Artsy independent shops and posh delis cluster around cobbled courtyards (there’s a whole shop for Agas). An aproned lady offers me artisan chutneys to taste. I gaze up at the famously high, manicured yew hedge of the Bathurst estate and look for the amphitheatre.
We don’t find it, but it’s “great for sledging and family picnics”, a taxi driver tells me later. If we were staying longer, Cirencester would be a perfect jumping-off point to explore nearby quintessential Cotswold villages – including Bibury, described by William Morris as the most beautiful village in England – and the riverside Bourton-on the-Water.
But for a night or a weekend there’s plenty in the hotel to keep you entertained. Its labyrinthine space now encompasses 11 adjacent buildings, including the Assembly Rooms with separate terrace and bar set up for private functions; a soon-to-be blues and jazz club; and the “library” – a cosy panelled room stacked with vinyl and a turntable for guests to spin while they enjoy an evening tipple.
A spa, steam room and fitness suite are set to open early in 2015. It is these additional spaces that will make this comfortable hotel something really quite unusual.
• Accommodation was provided by the Kings Head (01285 700900, kingshead-hotel.co.uk), which has doubles from £135 B&B, two-course dinner from £17 a head, drinks extra
Ask a local
Lady Apsley, Countess of Bathurst
• The Corinium museum covers Cirencester through the ages, but particularly the Roman era, when the town was regarded as England’s second capital.It is just a stone’s throw from the King’s Head.
• Take a walk in Cirencester park, part of the Bathurst Estate. Start on pretty Cecilly Hill, a street where no two houses are the same, walk to the park entrance and the start of Broad Avenuewhich runs in a straight line for five miles across the estate, to Sapperton. Look out for follies including the Hexagon and Pope’s seat. At the end of the walk there is a great pub, the Bell Inn.
• The town has really good independent shops. There’s @the Boutique for beautiful clothes; Jesse Smith, a fabulous butcher; French Grey for interiors. The Golden Cross Inn does a splendid Sunday roast, often served with my homemade redcurrant jelly.
• For food, the Corn Hall arcade is right next to the Kings Head. Go to Hobbs bakery for “probably the best bread in the world” and then Made by Bob’s deli and you have yourself the perfect picnic.
