My England & Scotland recommendations.

Answering your London/Cotswolds/Edinburgh questions.

Whenever I write one of these posts, I feel the need to add a disclaimer in bold print that says something like: I AM NOT AN EXPERT. I MOSTLY JUST LIKE TO WANDER AROUND AND DRINK COFFEE. This is perhaps especially true of London, where I have been many times, but still haven’t even seen half of, probably. On my most recent visit to London earlier this month, our group explored pretty much every corner of the city. I walked so much I honestly don’t think my feet will ever be the same. There are benefits to visiting a city this way, of course, but to me, it often leaves me feeling a bit overwhelmed, and sometimes too exhausted to make decisions about where to go next or what to eat. Manhattan and Brooklyn sometimes feel this way to me, too. There are restaurants and bars and things to do everywhere, and it makes it hard to narrow things down (even if you have a plan in place beforehand). When I’m traveling on my own or with Jake, my usual strategy with London is to stay in one neighborhood and get to know it well enough that I can navigate around it by memory by my second or third day there. Of course, I venture to other neighborhoods to explore, but the majority of my time is spent in the neighborhood where I’m staying. This sometimes feels more relaxing to me, but it also means I am not an exhaustive expert on much of the city at all (again, there’s that disclaimer!!).

The same is true of Edinburgh, which I’ve visited twice now — the second time during my first solo trip last December. I love Edinburgh, but collectively, I’ve probably spent less than a week in the city, so I am the farthest thing from an expert. But much like London and (especially) The Cotswolds, I’ve gotten quite a few questions about where I stayed there, what I did, and what I would recommend. So I decided to wrap all of those answers into one post. Just know that everything comes with the caveat of me having so much left to explore. If you are a paid subscriber and listened to last week’s mini podcast, you’ll know that I’m already dreaming about another Cotswolds stay. And going back to Scotland and visiting the highlands is high on my list as well (The Fife Arms is one of my dream stays).

But let’s get to my recommendations and your questions, shall we?

Just a note that if you opt to listen to this post instead of read, I give a few extra tidbits of insight throughout!

London

Photo by Ugur Akdemir on Unsplash

Let’s talk hotels first. When I visited London last summer, Jake and I stayed at The Holmes Hotel in Marylebone, which was located on a gorgeous, quiet street and central to some of my favorite Marylebone spots (Daunt Books, a gorgeous RIXO brick-and-mortar store, etc.). I love researching unique hotels, but honestly we chose this one simply because it made sense with our credit card points. Still, it was very nice, comfortable, and the location was great.

During this year’s visit, I first stayed at The Montague on the Gardens as part of the group trip (Trova Trip chooses the hotels). The location wasn’t my favorite (though it was near the British Museum and the Kimpton Fitzroy London, which has an incredible bar that’s worth visiting IMO), and I found it to be a fairly dated overall, but it was incredibly clean, and the service was pretty much as good as I’ve seen for such an affordable rate — plus, breakfast was included and pretty decent. At the end of my trip, I spent one night on my own at The Lost Poet in Notting Hill, which is nestled between buildings on the famous Portobello Road. The view from my room looked like something out of a movie set, and it was easy to stroll through the vintage shops on the main road and head back to my room quickly and easily. This is a truly unique boutique hotel with impeccable design and only a handful of rooms. I left for the airport too early for the full breakfast, but they left a chia pudding in my fridge the night before, and it was delicious. I love hotels with thoughtful details and design, and this one certainly fit the bill. However, it is worth noting that the stairs to get to some of the rooms are very narrow and steep, if that’s a concern.

When it comes to London restaurants, I suffer from the same issue I have when peop,e ask me for New York City recommendations. Admittedly, I haven’t lived in NYC in a long time, but I should be able to name a few places, right? I think part of the problem is that places in cities like New York or London have to be very good just as a baseline, so it makes gauging what’s the best of the best difficult. Having said that, I’ve had dining/drinking experiences I’ve really enjoyed at: The Wolseley (best eggs benedict I’ve ever had, maybe), Dishoom (believe the hype), Gordon’s Wine Bar (prepare for lines!), Gold (very loud and very dark, but chic, cozy, and totally delicious), ROVI (best vegetables you’ll have in your life), Maggie Jones (worth it more for the cozy vibes more than the food), The Churchill Arms (the outside is Instagram bait in the summer and winter, especially, but they also serve incredible Thai food, apparently), The American Bar at the Savoy (fancy, glorious cocktails), 26 Grains (I dream of their porridge), Monmouth Coffee Company (go very, very early).

And now let’s talk about one of my favorite places in the world…

The Cotswolds

I first decided to visit the Cotswolds because of the reason I’m sure most people do… I saw photos of it on Instagram and simply had to know if it was that magical in real life. Spoiler: It is. Jake and I stayed just outside of Castle Combe last year (we stayed at this Airbnb, which was absolutely lovely and a short walk from the town center of Castle Combe). Most of the Cotswolds is made up of tiny (and I do mean very, very tiny) villages like Castle Combe — you can explore most of them in a short afternoon, or even in just half an hour. They’re that tiny. But they’re also magical. While we only explored Castle Combe last year, on this year’s trip with Trova Trip, I was able to see quite a few more towns.

These included: Bibury, Lower Slaughter, Stow-on-the-Wold, Burford, and Bourton-on-the-Water.

Every single one of these towns is picturesque and quaint and lovely, in different ways. For this Trova Trip, our group made Cheltenham our home base (we stayed at Malmaison Cheltenham which was an exceptionally nice hotel and an incredible value, in my opinion – highly recommend) and explored the villages via coach (we were able to see all five of those hamlets within one day). This is certainly an option, though I think the more fun choice would be to drive between the various spots on your own and stay at different inns and Airbnbs along the way, or to stay at one central location and do day trips in your own car.

Some villages, like Lower Slaughter and Castle Combe, are so small that you won’t find much to do or see other than a single hotel and/or pub and gorgeous cottages. Others are a bit more busy, with shops and restaurants (Burford and Bourton-on-the-water, in particular, seemed to have more to explore). These towns only scratch the surface of what you could explore in the area.

In fact, our group decided to leave Cheltenham to visit Sudeley Castle (highly, highly recommend by the way – one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been) one afternoon and on the 15-minute drive there passed through Winchcombe, an absolutely charming tiny Cotswold village. In other words, these types of villages are all across this area, and they’re all incredibly charming.

Oh, and if you do find yourself in Cheltenham, I beg you to go to Prithvi — one of the most lovely, unique dining experiences I’ve ever had.

A general tip: Because we stayed more than 24 hours in Castle Combe, I was able to see what a difference it makes to visit these type of villages during ‘off’ hours. If you’re able to be in a magical village like Bibury or Castle Combe before 9 or 10 a.m. or after 4 p.m., you’ll likely miss the majority of the day-trippers and tourists. I will never forget being in Castle Combe at 8 in the morning, steam rising from chimneys, not a single other soul in sight. It really is a different experience. Having said that, I left Castle Combe dying to see other places in the Cotswolds. A perfect Cotswolds trip would be a mix of staying in a small hamlet and visiting other nearby villages as well, I think.

Edinburgh

Photo by Cameron Gibson on Unsplash

As I said, I’ve been to Edinburgh twice, but on my last visit, it was on my first-ever solo trip, so I did exactly what I wanted to do from start to finish. That trip was a bit of a mess in some ways – I sprained my ankle, it snowed and/or rain for three days straight, but it was also life-changing. I felt so proud of myself, so happy, and so connected to what I wanted to do and who I wanted to be. Here are some of my favorite spots from that trip.

I stayed at The Roseate Edinburgh (formerly called The Dunstane Houses, if you’ve heard me mention it before and are wondering why it doesn’t sound more familiar to you). This is hands down one of my favorite hotels I’ve ever stayed at. The decor, the rooms, the breakfast, the copper bath tub (honestly, life-changing)… it was all perfect and cozy. The walk into the city center wasn’t bad at all (even with ice and snow and rain), and it was just a completely memorable hotel stay that I can’t recommend enough. I’d 100% go back and stay here again (if for no other reason than to experience that bathtub again, to be honest).

My first night in Edinburgh, I ate at La Locanda and had a near-perfect dining experience. It’s located on a truly magical street in the city and is small and cozy, with great service and memorable dishes. I’ll never forget sitting here and reading my book, sipping red wine and eating burrata and dreaming of the bathtub back at the hotel (did I mention it was life-changing?) and feeling so, so happy. I can’t recommend this restaurant enough.

I also ate at Aurora, which was a super unique and beautiful food experience. Admittedly, I ate here after doing a 3-hour walking tour in freezing rain with absolutely zero proper outerwear, so I was not exactly in my finest state, but I do remember wishing that I could experience the whole meal again, but… dry. Ha. Continuing on my theme of meals that would probably be better under different circumstances, I ate at Mother India, which was so good that I ordered another entree as a dessert, despite the fact that I had sprained my ankle approximately 15 minutes before sitting down to eat. By far my most memorable dining experience was having tea at The Witchery, which is about as atmospheric as it gets. I felt like a character in a fantasy novel. This is located right by the entrance to Edinburgh Castle, so if you want to do a tour there, you could get tea before or after. Highly, highly recommend, especially if you visit when it’s cold.

Some of my favorite memories from the trip are reading and people-watching in The Bow Bar (a perfect, simple pub, in my opinion), writing in Hideout Cafe (coziness personified), and ducking in and out of bookstores like The Golden Hare and Rare Birds (this store only sells female authors — amazing).

My absolute best evening of the trip, though, was my last night, which I spent at Pickles, the coziest, cutest wine bar in the world. I ordered an obscenely large meat-and-cheese board, drank multiple glasses of wine, and read my book in the middle of the crowded, cozy restaurant. The wine was incredible, the food was perfect, and I felt cozier than I pretty much ever had. I dream about Pickles. Not as much as the bathtub. But it’s close.

Phew, well. After all of that… I think… I’ve just convinced myself to go back to Edinburgh in the winter again? I mean, gosh, it sounds pretty nice, doesn’t it? I digress, though. I hope this answers some questions you’ve had, or directs you accordingly as you plan your next trip. And if you have any other questions… drop them in comments!

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For this week’s mini podcast for paid subscribers, I’ll be walking through a handful of random, cozy, happy things that have brought me joy and peace this week. I’ve been keeping a list on my phone whenever something soothes me or makes me happy or makes my life a little better. These are things like my new favorite pumpkin spice tea, a movie I can’t stop thinking about, a change to my daily alarm… anyway, I wanted to do a cozy little mini pod this week, so that’s what’s coming at you in a few days if you’re interested. I’ll see you over there!

A portion of October’s subscriber proceeds will go toward Save the Children to support its work in providing essential services and support to children affected by violence in Israel and Gaza.