We stayed at Sheep on Sheep Street, which is a 4-star hotel right in the heart of the village. The modern bar and restaurant downstairs was pretty popular with the locals, something Tor and I always consider as a “seal of approval” at any destination we visit.

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After several nights in a row dining on multiple course menus, we decided to keep it a bit more casual this time and ordered delicious fried squid and burgers for dinner with some sinful scoops of salted caramel ice cream for dessert. We also had to indulge in some red wine, because necessities. Sadly we only got to spend one night here, but we could have happily made this spot our home base for a few days.

While Anne Boleyn only visited once, her 4th successor Katherine Parr actually lived here for a time. And while the idea of a former queen getting to call this castle home might sound romantic, her story was anything but. You know how the saying goes, right? Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived…. Katherine Parr was the lucky woman at the end who “survived.” But did she really? Sudeley Castle seems to be mostly dedicated to this queen, who only called this castle her home for just over a year. Before Katherine became the final wife of the most famous king in England, she was married two other times. Both husbands died while married to Katherine, but after the death of her second husband, she was completely head over heels in love with Thomas Seymour (brother to Henry VIII’s third wife Jane Seymour, who died in childbirth). But Henry VIII was completely smitten with her and proposed to her before she could accept any kind of marriage proposal from Thomas. When a king proposes, especially that king, you can’t really say no.

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Katherine had no choice but to wed the man who got rid of 5 of his previous queens and managed to play the game for four years until the king’s death. When Henry VIII died in January 1547, Katherine didn’t grieve for long. She secretly married Thomas and moved into his home at Sudeley Castle when she was pregnant with their child, which was gifted to Thomas by the new king, his nephew. Unfortunately, a happy ending with a happy family wasn’t in the cards for poor Katherine. When she moved into Sudeley, her stepdaughter Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth I) moved in with her. Thomas began openly flirting with the teenager and was caught several times in her rooms, which was of course not acceptable. Katherine had no choice but to consider her own stepdaughter as a rival and banished her from Sudeley, but Thomas still followed her. Alone without her husband, Katherine went into labor at the castle and gave birth to their daughter, Mary.

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Sadly, Katherine died just a few days later from complications from the birth, although some like to think she died of a broken heart. She died just one year after the death of Henry VIII, never finding happiness after all. What’s even more fascinating about Katherine Parr is the way she was buried. Her body was wrapped in seven layers of linen in a lead coffin, which was then buried under the chapel across from the castle. Over 250 years later, a group of women asked the chapel caretaker to dig underneath the ground for the coffin. They found it, but what they found inside was even more remarkable. The lead coffin and linen kept her body in tact, so when they opened the lid, they found the body of Katherine instead of dust or bones. Her skin was still clammy and white despite two and a half centuries passing by. They cut locks of her hair which are on display in the castle (FYI she was strawberry blonde), and she was reburied within the altar of the chapel. Unfortunately, the fascination of her preservation led to her coffin being opened and closed too much and thus her body began to decompose after all. Only a bit of brown dust remains of the former queen and final royal Tudor wife.

I was so excited to stay at Barnsley House, but once we arrived it was quite clear photos do not do it justice as it’s even more stunning and quaint in person. Our suite (number 16) consisted of two floors, with the bathroom taking up the second floor with a tub I wanted to steal for myself and put in my own bathroom back home. Barnsley House became our home base for the next few nights, which once again completed one of my Cotswolds fantasies. Staying at a manor house feels like it gives me a glimpse into another kind of life.

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While I could do this at home, there’s something extra romantic about dressing up for dinner and having wine in the parlor before being escorted to our dinner table at The Potager beside floor to ceiling windows that overlook the gardens. That’s me living out my modern day Downton Abbey fantasy. Since the chefs at Barnsley House grow their vegetables and herbs on the property, we knew we were in for a treat at dinner. It was asparagus season during our visit, and their asparagus dishes made me wish asparagus season was year round. My favorite dish was their asparagus starter that was adorned with an egg-filled mayo and freshly shaved truffle. A-MAZE-ING. We had it every night as an appetizer because it was that good. I wouldn’t even share with Tor (normally we share appetizer dishes to try as much as possible).