Holiday cottages near Banbury offering Narnia magic touch have won a prestigious travel award

Heath Farm Cottages, near Great Tew, have won gold for the Best Self-Catering Accommodation of the Year in the Tourism South East award scheme.

The hidden magic is a Narnia wardrobe, identified by its two door carvings of Aslan, which connects two of the cottages. When you open the doors there is a mural of Narnia leading through into the second cottage. Guests who book two adjoining cottages on the courtyard can enjoy this unique feature. Children love it.

The cottages are part of an extraordinary farm, nestled in a 70-acre site, surrounded by nut trees on an escarpment of the Swere Valley and run by the Barbour family. It was chosen from 143 entries to win the award.

Buildings manager Mon Barbour said: “We are so proud to have won this award. I can’t overstate just how much work is involved for all the family in order to maintain the highest standards of accommodation for our guests and it is really gratifying to have it recognised with this award.

"We’ve only recently started offering the whole site for wedding bookings and to win an award since we took on this next level of service and luxury is especially important to us”.

The judging criteria included a requirement for ethical, responsible and sustainable tourism.

Heath Farm - which has been called ‘The Cotswolds’ original organic, peace-loving, hand-crafted holiday destination’ – has exceptional levels of these qualities, thanks to the long-held high standards and principles of its owners.

David and Nena Barbour were among the earliest adopters of slow food movement and have operated their farm organically since the 1980s when they planted thousands of nut trees on their land.

These trees have now matured to offer privacy and tranquillity for guests, with the self-catering cottages set around the original farm courtyard, designed and updated using wood from the farm.

The cottages are finished in a variety of natural finishes such as Venetian marble tiling, oak panelling and African slate. Other superb features are an unusual open fire and exposed joists and beams giving a luxurious country feel.

Guests enjoy the sun-trap courtyard the sun trapped courtyard with their own own seating areas nestled between potted plants including Lemon trees and Hydrangea.

The charming setting and attention to detail, much admired and commented on by guests, combined with award-winning high environment standards, were part of the judging criteria.

All the water on the site is freshly drawn and filtered on the farm and only natural cleaning products are used. Abi Barbour, who recently took over the cottage cleaning and management, maintains the standards her mother, Nena, has always insisted on where only organic products are used to clean the properties and all bed linen is laundered on site to guarantee the products and processes employed.

New features have been a huge hit with guests, such as individual hot tubs for two of the cottages.