English Arcadia

The rolling Cotswolds countryside is the enchanting backdrop to six handsome properties

- Penny Churchill

Oddington Lodge was meticulously renovated five years ago and offers 6,663sq ft of accommodation over three floors. £7.25m

ALTHOUGH currently in short supply, classic country houses can be found anywhere within the 787 square miles of the Cotswolds AONB, which stretches from the borders of Warwickshire and Worcestershire in the north, to the fringes of Wiltshire and Somerset in the south. Yet recent transactions indicate that the smart London money continues to target the exclusive 'golden corridor' between Daylesford Farm Shop, near Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, and Soho Farmhouse at Great Tew, near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire.

Bruce Tolmie-Thomson of Knight Frank's country department (020-7861 1070) is handling the sale, at a guide price of $7.25 million, of pristine Oddington Lodge at Lower Oddington, in the picturesque Evenlode Valley, a mile from Daylesford and 14 from Soho Farmhouse. Set in more than six acres of landscaped gardens and grounds, the imposing Cotswold-stone house was meticulously renovated five years ago by Oxford-based conservation builders Symm, on behalf of the current owners, who bought it as a weekend retreat in 2016, but are now moving to a larger house in the area, having decided to live in the Cotswolds full time.

Grade II-listed Well House is 90 minutes by rail from London. £2.95m.