With much of the activity at the upper end of the Cotswolds country-house market currently taking place behind closed doors, the open-market sale of The Old Rectory at Duntisbourne Abbots, at a guide price of £4.95m through the Cirencester office of Strutt & Parker, will hopefully encourage more vendors to break cover.
The Duntisbourne valley, between Cirencester and Cheltenham, is one of the prettiest and most unspoilt parts of the Cotswolds, characterised by charming small villages of period houses and cottages. Duntisbourne Abbots is the largest of these villages, located seven miles from Cirencester and 12 miles from Cheltenham, and it's a settlement that originally belonged to St Peter’s Abbey, Gloucester.
For 56 years, from 1945 to 2001, when it was acquired by its present owners, the imposing former rectory was a youth hostel, which probably explains why, apart from its entrance gates, the classic Georgian building is unlisted. It's hard to believe that this magnificent house would once have been populated by scouts and students traipsing through the hallways carrying backpacks and sleeping bags on their way to dormitories full of bunk-beds.
During their tenure, the owners transformed the substantial, 8,224sq ft main house — now the principal house in the village — from a wreck into ‘a proper family country home with decent-sized reception rooms, laying down the gardens and buying in extra land to create an idyllic Cotswold setting of some 22 acres in all,’ selling agent Luke Morgan explains.
The main house offers accommodation on three floors, including six fine reception rooms, eight principal bedrooms with five bathrooms, a top-floor playroom and kitchen, plus a boot room, utility room and cellars.
The Old Rectory also boasts a triple garage with an apartment above and a barn for conversion into a four-bedroom house, subject to the usual planning consents.
Services include mains electricity, private drainage, oil-fired central heating and super-fast broadband via Gigaclear, which makes it eminently liveable for those looking to work from home.
Not that there’s a problem getting to Britain’s cities as needed: Duntisbourne Abbots offers excellent communications in all directions, with Kemble and Swindon stations providing fast rail links to London Paddington, and the nearby A417 linking up with the M4 at Swindon and the M5 at Gloucester.
The area also offers a choice of highly rated State and private schools, including the ever-popular Beaudesert Park prep at Minchinhampton and the various Cheltenham schools.
Credit: Jackson-Stops & Staff
A picture-perfect cottage in the Cotswolds for the price of a flat in the suburbs
Time to get out of London? A perfect example English country cottage is on the market in the heart of
Bruern Holiday Cottages: A cosy Cotswolds getaway perfect for a winter weekend
Bruern Holiday Cottages are the perfect place to spend a winter weekend curled up by the fire, discovers Victoria Marston.
-
Ashford Castle review: The fantastic five-star hotel in Ireland that the Guinness family once used to show off their wealth and influenceYou’ve seen ‘The House of Guinness’ — well here’s the castle.
-
The David Beckham edition of the Country Life Quiz of the Day, October 22, 2025Icon of the football pitch, underwear adverts and the countryside — we celebrate our guest editor Sir David Beckham in today's quiz.
-
A country house near Windsor that could be straight from the pages of a Jilly Cooper novelPenny Churchill looks at the beautiful polo-lover's sanctuary that is Barkham Square Park.
-
The factory that once fuelled the Victorians' insatiable appetite for pianos has become a set of gorgeous, characterful apartmentsChappell & Co were a huge name in 19th century music, even working with Beethoven. Today, one of their old factories in Camden has become a series of beautiful apartments.
-
What £1 million buys you across Britain, from a Cornish cottage to a miniature castle in the HighlandsSprawling country houses, a mini-estate in Scotland and homes where the sea almost laps up at your feet are among the property options open to those with a seven-figure budget. Here's our pick of the best £1 million houses for sale across the land.
-
The Hampshire home of a Victoria Cross-winning British WWI ace fighter pilot is for sale, with lake, chapel and some of the best fishing rights in EnglandPenny Churchill looks at Longparish House, a north Hampshire haven on the River Test.
-
Five superb country homes, from under £1 million to £20 million, as seen in Country LifeOur look at some the best homes to come up for sale via Country Life in the past week includes a Wiltshire dream home and a vast Kent mansion that's an easy commute to the City.
-
Rock stars and the country house: Liam Gallagher's life in the Cotswolds is in the finest tradition of music A-listers, from The Beatles to BeyoncéWhat is it about the British countryside that draws A-listers from every walk of life? With Liam Gallagher's Cotswold former home on the market, Toby Keel takes a look.
-
Life on Portugal's Coast of Kings, where Ian Fleming met the triple-agent whose gambling inspired 'Casino Royale'Once a quiet fishing village west of Lisbon, Cascais became an unlikely hive of activity during the Second World War, attracting regal refugees and intelligence operatives in equal measure. Russell Higham investigates its enduring glamour — and its connection to Casino Royale.
-
An extraordinary Italian palazzo built in the heart of Oxfordshire is up for sale at £16 millionThe Palazzo Pallavicini in Genoa inspired the creation of Newington House, which is on the market for the first time in 35 years.
