Viewers are raving about Rivals, the Disney+ adaptation of Dame Jilly Cooper’s 1988 novel chronicling the lives, loves and general shenanigans of a group of wealthy, powerful and entirely politically incorrect men and women who live in fabulous homes in the fictional county of Rutshire.
The location is based on the area around Cooper’s own home, near Tetbury, Gloucestershire. In real life the mid-Cotswolds, which covers Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and parts of Warwickshire, is a more low-key choice than the Oxfordshire Cotswolds, with its celebrity residents and chichi venues such as the Soho Farmhouse and Daylesford Organic.
“What I love about the mid-Cotswolds is that it is a little less manicured than Oxfordshire,” says buying agent Gemma Maclaran of Middleton Advisors. “It is very rural and the villages tend to have fewer second homes, so there is a really good sense of community. It has got a relaxed, outdoorsy feel.”
Sam Scott-White, of the Cotswold Buying Agent, is another fan. “The Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Cotswolds are a bit flatter than Oxfordshire but still lovely,” she says.
Here’s our guide...
Tetbury, Gloucestershire
A key location for the filming of Rivals — its charmingly period-drama shop fronts were even given an Eighties restyle for the shoot, complete with posters welcoming Margaret Thatcher on a visit to the town.
Several of Tetbury’s grandest houses feature in Rivals, notably the Grade I listed Elizabethan Chavenage House. It doubled for The Priory, home to Declan O’Hara, a TV presenter who leaves London for the delights of the Cotswolds.
The location choice was something of a homecoming for heart-throb actor Aidan Turner, who plays O’Hara, since the house was also a key location in his breakout TV show Poldark.
Tom Mayfield, of Winkworth’s Cheltenham office, is lucky enough to be a regular visitor to Chavenage. He is close friends with Emma and James Lowesley-Williams and James’s family has owned the estate since 1891.
“There are a variety of sets in this part of the Cotswolds,” he says. “There is the Rivals set, people who live in the big houses, and then the London incomers, and a mixture of both. There are also the locals who have lived here forever.”
Whatever your social status, if you move to this part of the world you are going to have to face squeezing on a pair of jodhpurs if you want to fit in. “It is very horsey,” says Mayfield, who plays polo. “If you are around Naunton in Gloucestershire it is all about racing … [trainers] Jonjo O’Neill and Nigel Twiston-Davies are based there. Around Cirencester you have the polo set, with several clubs. And all these areas have their own individual hunts. The area basically lives and breathes horses.”
Beyond equestrian pursuits there are lots of opportunities to eat, drink and shop locally. Locals hang out at Dunkertons cider bar, which serves ciders and perrys brewed by Julian Dunkerton, who co-founded Superdry. Dunkerton’s wife, Jade Holland Cooper, designs her own range of country and riding wear, a favourite brand of the Princess of Wales. Another hotspot is Elkstone Studios’ specialist food stores and farmers’ market.
Tetbury itself is a real looker of a town, which has won endless England in Bloom awards and is ever so slightly twee. Its high street is filled with cute antique shops, coffee shops and a cluster of specialist food stores including The Highgrove Shop (the King’s country estate is up the road) which sells a mixture of organic food, posh garden tools and homewares.
“It has got everything you need,” says Scott-White. “The cafés and shops are lovely and there are almost no chains. There is a Jigsaw, but that is about it.”
Property ranges from historic manors on the town’s rural fringes, to Georgian townhouses and very pretty stone cottages. There are also more modern family homes on the outskirts. The average sale price in Tetbury currently stands at £427,000, according to Rightmove, with detached houses fetching an average £631,000 and terraces £387,000.
Most of Scott-White’s buyers have bigger budgets to play with — £1.5 million and above. For that, she says, you could pick up a four- bedroom period house in Tetbury, in a sought-after location like around The Chipping Steps, a steep and scenic walkway leading towards Tetbury’s market square.
For those who still need to be in London from time to time, trains from Kemble station to Paddington take less than an hour and a half.
Corsham, Wiltshire
This Cotswolds town played a starring role in Rivals, and its stupidly pretty high street and honey-coloured stone cottages have made it a go-to for location scouts. From Poldark, where it stood in for 18th-century Truro, to Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Lark Rise to Candleford and The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, this lovely country market town is ready for its close-up.
London buyers like Corsham because it has good transport links. Trains from Chippenham, four miles away, arrive at London Paddington in around an hour and 10 minutes. Bath is less than 10 miles away, and Bristol is some 20 miles to the west.
The town centre is stuffed with independent shops and restaurants, school standards are high, and easy access to the Cotswolds only adds to the appeal. The compromise with Corsham is that beyond the lovely town centre most of the housing is fairly modern. “It has not got the same cachet as Tetbury,” says Maclaran. “But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a lot going for it, and it is very good value for money.”
Compared to Bath or more chocolate-box Cotswold towns, Corsham is a great place to find bang for your buck. The post-Covid race for space is over and average prices stand at £358,000, according to Rightmove. Terraced homes cost an average £277,000 and semis come in at an average £338,000.
Cherington, Warwickshire
Four miles north of Tetbury, Cherington is a quaint and charming village by the River Stour, with some strong royal links. Zara and Mike Tindall live nearby with their family, and Princess Anne’s Gatcombe Park is up the road.
The Warwickshire village has a pub, the Cherington Arms, a church, where the Tindalls’s daughters were christened, and the community gets together to organise an annual flower show and music hall. Cherington’s chocolate-box looks command a premium. Scott-White suggests budgeting at around £1.5 million to £1.75 million for a four-bedroom house.
Sapperton, Gloucestershire
London buyers gravitate towards villages between Tetbury and Cirencester because of their proximity to Kemble station.
Mayfield thinks Sapperton is the pick of the bunch. “The Bell is an absolutely superb pub, it is set in a picturesque valley, and there are no new-build houses at all.”
A full-on Rivals-style manor on the fringes of the village would cost several million pounds, but you could buy a charming cottage for between £450,000 and £500,000.
Mid-Cotswolds property picks
Some choice properties currently on the market:
The Old School House, Marshfield
£900,000
Lovely and unique two-bedroom house and high beamed ceilings reflecting its past. Also has original flooring and school bell!
Lyegrove, Badminton
Historic country house with spectacular gardens. Has 9 bedrooms spread over several dwellings on a true Rivals property.
New Church Street, Tetbury
£775,000
Grade II listed house in Tetbury that is currently split into four one-bedroom apartments, two bedsits and a one-bedroom cottage.
Stinchcombe, Dursley
£2,500,000
A stunning, Grade II* listed country estate of eight bedrooms Arts & Crafts house and nine acres of grounds, currently run as an events venue.
