The Hamptons of England' Wealthy Americans fleeing Trump flock to Cotswolds

Wealthy Americans fleeing Trump flock to Cotswolds

- Lauren Almeida

Thanksgiving in the Cotswolds is no small affair. Every November, Americans flock to the English market town of Stow-on-the-Wold for glazed turkey breasts and green bean casserole. It is, by Jesse D'Ambrosi's own admission, "bizarre". The chef, owner of D'Ambrosi Fine Foods, is one of the many Americans who have made the Cotswolds their home in recent years. Here, her Thanksgiving and Fourth of July food hampers are highly coveted.

Now as Donald Trump settles into his second administration, the lure of the rolling hills of Gloucestershire and swaths of the Cotswolds has grown stronger for many of her compatriots.

"I've seen a lot of Americans checking out the area," she says. "Obviously it's political. Why wouldn't you want to leave where that guy is in action? It is very scary times, especially for women."

It is an increasingly common view as Trump's authoritarian clampdown and attacks on academia, civil society and political opponents leave some Americans reaching for their passports.

US applications for UK citizenship hit a record high last year at more than 6,100, a 26% increase from 2023. There was a 40% year-on-year rise during the final three months of 2024, around the time of Trump's re-election.

In the prime London real estate market of areas such as Knightsbridge and Mayfair, the number of US buyers overtook Chinese ones for the first time in 2024, Knight Frank analysis found.

But the prospect of life in the English countryside is also growing in popularity. Harry Gladwin, of the Buying Solution estate agency in the Cotswolds, says a significant number of his clients are Americans hoping to plot a route abroad.

"There are multiple draws," he says. "It is a safe place to hold properties; young families often want to have a holiday home with a view to spending more time here in the long term; and older couples who want to spend more time in the UK use it as a stepping stone to Europe.