Escape to the country: from the Cotswolds to Henley — where Londoners are renting homes for the summer

With four months of isolation behind us and a summer of limited options ahead, it’s time to rediscover the great British countryside.

Savvy Londoners keen for a more rural lifestyle have turned to renting, aiming to try before they buy.

“We have seen enquiries up 500 per cent on previous years — and families relocating for the whole summer has been a big driver,” says Thomas Bennett of luxury rental company Stay One Degree. “London escapees want large gardens and swimming pools.”

In this prime destination, 30 per cent of all inquiries since mid-March to estate agent Butler Sherborn have come from Londoners.

Head of lettings at Burford, Vanessa Carter, says: “These are mostly families looking for sizeable properties with gardens on six- to 12-month tenancies.”

A cottage with gardens on the outskirts of Lower Slaughter in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is available for £1,450 a month.

Further south in Lechlade, The Lakes by Yoo is a private estate of stylish modern homes in big plots, to buy or rent, on 850 acres of Cotswolds lakes, fields and woodlands. Activities include cycling, tennis, fishing and climbing.

Prices from £6,000 a week for a spacious, three-bedroom lakeside house.

Savills reports a surge in London renters seeking “more space, a home office and attractive surroundings with good schools and commuter routes”, says Alex Lee, head of lettings in Henley. “We’ve also seen an uplift in tenants purchasing their rental homes.”

Eight miles north of Henley in the Chiltern Hills a three-bedroom cottage overlooking Christmas Common is £1,495 a month, while a four-bedroom farmhouse on a private estate in Nettlebed is £2,400, both with Savills.

After 22 years in Chiswick, Liz McCarthy, 43, and her husband Enda, 47, made the dramatic decision to leave London with their four-year-old daughter, Aggy.

“Lockdown triggered our move,” says Liz. “On the first Friday of lockdown I launched my company Lizzie Loves, a children’s supplement brand and the response has been astonishing, proving I can work anywhere.”

Through Savills, they’re renting a cottage in Nettlebed near Henley, Oxfordshire, with roses, shutters and a big garden opening on to a nature reserve. Similar local homes rent for £3,000 a month.

“Our friends own Nettlebed Creamery making delicious cheese. Aggy is so excited about having cows at the end of our garden. We move in this month and cannot wait.”

Options in Edinburgh, Scotland’s festival capital with great schools, countryside and rugged coastline, range from a central flat at £254 a week to a four-bedroom detached house with a garden for £2,250 a month, both with Savills.

If island life and isolation is more your bag, Vanessa Branson, Richard’s hotelier sister, owns 200-acre Eilean Shona, a private island off the west coast with 10 houses to rent.