We offer gorgeous holiday cottages for short breaks and holidays in and around the North Cotswold market town of Chipping Campden. You have to go off the beaten track to find this hidden gem but once discovered you will see why we love it and you’ll understand why it feels like being on holiday all year round when you live here.
Campden’s early name was Camp-denu, from Saxon Old English meaning field or enclosure (camp) in the valley (denu). It appears in the early records under various spellings and names – Campadene, Campedene, Caumpedene, Caumpden, Campdene, Camdin, Cambdin and Cambden.
(Campedene 1086 (db), Bradecampedene 1224, Chepyng Campedene 1287. ‘Valley with enclosures’. OE camp + denu. …(Oxford Dictionary of Place Names))
There were three areas of early settlement – Berrington, Westington and Broad Campden. At the time of the Domesday Book the manor was held by the Earl of Chester having been the property of King Harold before 1066. King Henry II gave Campden a Town Charter in about 1175, permitting a weekly market and annual fairs. It is from that time that the name was changed to Chipping Campden, from an old English word ‘ceping’, meaning ‘market’and the High Street, with its market square and burgage plots, was developed.
Words from the Chipping Campden History Society www.chippingcampdenhistory.org.uk
Campden offers a less commercialised base than many other similar Cotswold towns such as Bourton On The Water, Broadway and Stow On The Wold.
In 1902 C.R.Ashbee brought his Guild of Handicraft to Campden from London’s East End. Ashbee was a follower of William Morris and had started the Guild in 1888 but believing that country living was better for handicrafts, he and 150 people with workshops and equipment moved to Campden.
The Guild was dissolved in 1910 but many of the descendants of the Guildsmen still live in the town. The Silk Mill in Sheep Street, where Ashbee set up the Guild, still houses craftsmen, including the Robert Welch Design Studios and Hart’s workshop which carries on the family silversmithing business started by George Hart.
The Old Silk Mill is one of many places to visit in the town and a trip up the stairs (and back in time) to Harts Silversmiths is an opportunity not to be missed.
There are a variety of shops, pubs and restaurants on the high street to suit everyone’s taste and we can recommend a cottage to suit most requirements too!
We started in the holiday cottage business in 2005, cleaning one or two cottages. We realised we had a noticeably higher standard of cleanliness than many cottage owners expected and we built up a reputable business, cleaning and managing several holiday cottages and second homes.
We bought our own holiday Cottage, The Honeypot, in April 05 and spent several months turning an old (rather neglected) cottage into a gorgeous retreat (many years ago, The Honeypot was a burgage plot). We have stayed at The Honeypot ourselves, only a handful of times, and it really feels like we’re on holiday every single time!
We now offer a selection of properties which cater for most tastes, whether it be a romantic cottage for two or a millionaire’s mansion for ten!
Our aim is simple; to offer clean and comfortable, quality cottages, in a beautiful setting!