AN AMERICAN DREAM

As JD Vance plots a visit to the Cotswolds, native Sian Lewis explores its enduring appeal for tourists from across the pond

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This summer, US vice-president JD Vance has opted for a rather un-Trumpian vacation.

No golden elevators or Mara-Lago this time: he'll be heading with his family to the Cotswolds in August, reportedly renting a romcom-worthy cottage.

The Cotswolds really are as beautiful as the postcards - and Instagram posts – would have you believe. The area, which spans parts of six counties (Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, Worcestershire and Somerset), has always had a touch of glamour to it: it's been a hub for the wealthy since the heyday of the wool trade in the late Middle Ages.

And more recently, the place I call home has been drawing the great and the glamorous from both sides of the pond. Taylor Swift based herself here for the London segment of her Eras tour, Shonda Rhimes filmed Bridgerton on the streets of Bath, and Jeremy Clarkson continues to cause traffic jams by selling pork scratchings to queues of Clarkson's Farm fans.

Ellen DeGeneres briefly moved here with her wife Portia de Rossi (although she's just put her property up for sale). We've even had the ultimate seal of American approval - a visit from a Kardashian. Kourtney was recently spotted at Soho Farmhouse in Chipping Norton.