An old Georgian bank has been transformed into three apartments in the highest town in the Cotswolds

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The Vaults at Stow

The Vaults at Stow deliciously upends the normal routine of things when it comes to a stay in the Cotswolds (the check-in desk routine of a hotel; the left-to-your-own-devices experience of an Airbnb; the general din that’s part and parcel of a room above a pub). Here, everything is quiet at night, except the church bells solemnly ringing out the hour, and you can slip in without a squeak of a conversation, by unlocking the door to one of the three very smart apartments with a secret code.

Husband-and-wife team Rory and India Hunter have overseen a masterful reimagining of the upper floors of an old Barclays Bank, done in the best way. It is like a home away from home, the pied-à-terre of a deeply stylish friend, instead of bland hotel renovation. The design notes are all very on point: Ottoline de Vries and Penny Morrison fabrics, Hum Fleming cosmic lampshades and Edward Bulmer paint in buttery yellow, plaster pink and sage green.

Everything about the set-up says: ‘Come in and make yourself at home.’ On an antique Welsh dresser, there’s a chess set and dominos. Under the bedside table, there’s a considered and diverse selection of books from The Best of Betjeman to Brian Cox’s Human Universe. In the fridge, cans of Dash and Trip sit next to bottles of La Vieille Ferme rosé and on the kitchen counter you’ll find a just-baked sourdough loaf, a jug of verdant tulips and a bowl of crunchy Granny Smiths. A marbled visitors’ book sits by the door, filled with love letters from previous guests.

Sash windows that close with a satisfying swoosh look out over the square at the front and, to the back, terraces have widescreen views of moss-covered rooftops, chimneys puffing out curls of woodsmoke and early-morning mist rolling off the surrounding hills.

The Vaults is plum in the middle of everything you might want to see and do here: gallery pottering at Red Rag and Stow Art House, picking up paints at Cotswolds Art Supplies, stationery browsing at Phyra Studio, choosing coloured tea towels and candles from Domestic Science and tasting pastel-speckled gull’s-egg treats from the Cotswolds Chocolate Company. Don’t miss the Crock Shop, either, a tardis-like emporium of kitchen kit you never knew you needed.

Rooms at The Vaults at Stow start from £260 per night. There is a two-night minimum stay. Visit their website for more information and to book.

Need to know

The history book of Stow-on-the-Wold reads like a gripping page-turner. The town sits on the site of an Iron Age fort that caught the eye of the invading Romans, who used it as a handy stopping point on their ruler-straight Fosse Way. Stow as we know it, arranged about the main square, took shape in the 11th century courtesy of Henry I, who granted a licence for a weekly market.

Sheep — tens of thousands of them — soon followed, zigzagging through narrow lanes to the square, which had become an important hub for the medieval wool trade. St Edwards Church was consecrated in the 10th century, but changes to the structure and interior decoration were made up until the 19th, shortly before J. R. R. Tolkien’s rumoured visit.

Local legend has it that the church’s famous yew-tree framed entrance inspired the Doors of Durin in the author’s seminal work, The Lord of the Rings.

It’s not hard to understand why Stow-on-the-Wold has been such a prominent town for so many centuries: it’s the highest town in the Cotswolds, a long-standing gathering place for hungry travellers and a melting pot of prosperous small businesses.

A word of warning: do not misbehave here. The remains of 15th-century penal stocks still stand on the green, not far from Digbeth Street, where the road was said to have run red with blood during the final battle of the English Civil War, in 1646.

Where to eat

• In the morning, join the queue at Otis & Belle in Talbot Court, less than a minute’s walk from The Vaults, where locals scoop up sticky cinnamon rolls and flat whites and compare notes on the weather
• For in-apartment lunches, try the deli counter at D’Ambrosi Fine Foods, where the counters are piled high with delicious salads, soups and shrimp rolls
• Bar Foletta boasts an enviable atmosphere. Perello olives, serrano and manchego croquettes, pints of Hawkstone and wicked, salt-rimmed margaritas are served to a soundtrack of vinyl records
• There are plenty of pubs in Stow, as well as a craft beer café and bottleshop Off the Square, and, three miles away, the Daylesford-owned The Fox at Oddington is delightful, run by an endlessly cheerful, young team

What to do while you’re there

• Walks All the best walks are loops. For a quick circular trot, the route between the pretty sisters of Lower and Upper Slaughter is a great pre-lunch warm up. It’s even better if you start out from Stow-on-the-Wold directly
• Viewpoints If the views from The Vaults at Stow whet your appetite, hotfoot it to Capability Brown’s Broadway Tower folly — the second-highest point in the Cotswolds. On a clear day, you can see for more than 60 miles
• Architecture Another brilliant folly, the neo-Mughal Sezincote House was built for Col John Cockerell at the turn of the 19th century to remind him of his time serving in the East India Company
• Visit Daylesford’s flagship shop is always worth a peek, if only to marvel at the sheer scale of the place, the foot-long trays of rhubarb and rainbow-colour heirloom tomatoes, shelves of homeware as far as the eye can see and restaurants at every turn

This feature originally appeared in the April 30, 2026, issue of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.'