Fancy a Cotswolds break like JD Vance? That will be £50,000

I sent a taxi on a 40-mile round trip to pick up one set of pillowcases

In my world, “yes” is the answer and anything is possible. I once sent a taxi on a 40-mile round trip to pick up a specific set of pillowcases requested by a celebrity. My team of two and I had to ring around to check stock and ask shops to stay open, whereupon two lone pillowcases travelled to the house in the back of the cab and were delivered to the client in time for turndown.

Another time I had some guests call at 1am demanding more glass-bottled water. I was out for a friend’s birthday at the time, and to get it to them we went into a bar and bought three crates (at restaurant prices) and again put them in a taxi.

To create a fully catered pop-up hotel experience in some houses with nannies, butlers, chefs and housekeepers could be an extra £10-£20,000 a week on top of the base price. And then our full holiday packages, with daily tours including exclusive access to castles, for example, could bring the weekly total up to £50-£100,000.

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When overseas guests land, we will have a chauffeured car pick them up (a Mercedes-Benz V-Class or similar). If they’re hiring their own car, it will be delivered to the property so they don’t have to worry about driving from the airport if they’re jet-lagged. Some clients prefer a helicopter transfer.

While they’re here, most people want Range Rovers and may want to drive. Or we have chauffeurs. No request is too much. My black book is pretty extensive. If I haven’t got a direct contact, I know someone who will.

I have been known to sleep with my phone under my pillow. It’s a 24/7 service, so one of us is on call at all times.

Guests want goodie bags worth thousands of pounds for their friends

My friends laugh at me because of the random stuff that could be found in the back of my car. Last week I had guests who wanted goodie bags for all their friends who were coming to stay. I couldn’t get in my car because of these huge sacks containing designer handbags, perfumes and Chanel earrings. Each goodie bag was . Then the next day my car was filled with helium balloons; the week before that, it had been giant games of Connect 4 and Jenga.

• Why rich Americans are invading the Cotswolds

When someone asks for a goodie bag recommendation, you don’t know whether they mean an eye mask, packs of paracetamol and Haribo, or £8,000 worth of designer trinkets. What I’ve learnt is, give people a range so you can find what’s exactly right for them. Then you have the ones who just say yes to everything — they’re my favourite type of client.

Fifteen years ago I used to work for Orient Express, now Belmond. I loved the personalised nature of small-group travel then and the attention to detail you can deliver at this level. I used to ask the American guests: if you could come and do an experience in the UK, where would you do it? They kept saying the Cotswolds.

I’m from Pembrokeshire. In 2016, I stepped foot here for the first time. Now I have my business, Harrad & Bloom, and some friends introduce me as Mrs Cotswolds, which is a testament to how much I’ve become part of the community.

Even now, I drive around and see the rapeseed fields and the honey-coloured stone cottages and I think, it’s so gorgeous and it never won’t be gorgeous.

Location-wise, everyone wants to be near Daylesford, the Beckhams and Soho Farmhouse. But there are amazing places further south as well, which are quieter and more understated — areas like Tetbury, the Stroud Valley and Cirencester.

It can get busy here in the summer. But there are always the private members’ clubs. It’s almost like London in the country or the Hamptons of the UK.

Now you can celebrity-spot pretty much anywhere. And there are world-class places to eat in the smallest villages.

Before the pandemic, my clients were 100 per cent Americans in the 60-plus age bracket — retired and looking for the quintessential Cotswolds luxury house experience. Then, in the Covid years, it was suddenly Brits who couldn’t get on their yachts or make it to their European villas and said, “Let’s rent a beautiful house in the Cotswolds.” And that trend has stuck. A lot of Londoners have realised that it doesn’t matter if Mark or Johnny has a meeting in the City, because he can go and come back. So now it’s people in their thirties and forties.

Someone asked about going to Stonehenge and having a picnic there

Many of our clients want to go to the private members’ clubs. We have had guests visit and join all three: Soho Farmhouse, Estelle Manor and the Club by Bamford. Sometimes client schedules don’t permit them to dine there — they’re happy just to see Soho Farmhouse, to tick it off. We can arrange access to most places in the Cotswolds or get tables at restaurants that are fully booked.

Daylesford is a big pull. People want to tell their friends that they’ve been there and bought the organic tomato candle.

Some people want their kitchens stocked purely with Daylesford products. We also use smaller local companies, like butchers Jesse Smith in Tetbury and Lambournes in Stow. Otis & Belle is a fabulous bakery with the best sourdough. Broadway Deli has organic fruit and veg piled up in a cart outside the shop. Every guest gets a reception with English sparkling wine from the local vineyard, Dryhill.

Clients often want a garden picnic too, prepared by a chef. Someone recently asked about going to Stonehenge and having a picnic there. It would have been an hour and a half away, but they wanted it for an Instagram shot. So I said why not try the Rollright Stones, which have a similar historic charm and are only 15 minutes away. So they had a traditional picnic with homemade Scotch eggs, vol-au-vents, sausage rolls — plus champagne, of course.

We’ve arranged surprise gazebos and chef-prepared afternoon teas at polo matches for American guests and they are always blown away, especially when all the locals are perched on the boot of their car. They visit Cirencester Park Polo Club and hope for a glimpse of the Prince of Wales, while they feel like royalty themselves.

For a one-year-old’s birthday we arranged a mariachi band and a petting zoo in the garden.

One client requested people being fired out of cannons (I said no)

Once I organised a Caribbean circus-themed party for a 40th birthday with a steel drum band, tiki bar, circus tent, fire breathers, sword juggling, artists and performers. But I think someone had been watching The Wolf of Wall Street a bit too much because the client requested people being fired out of cannons. I ignored that part of the brief, thinking it was a joke. And then they asked, “Well, what about the cannons?” I said, “On reflection, that’s something we can’t help you with.” It may have been the only time I’ve said no.

The resources are here to deliver whatever people want. There’s a freelance culture with chefs, housekeepers, butlers and nannies. Apart from London, which other pockets of the UK could do this?

For wellness treatments, fitness and beauty we use a high-end wellness brand, Lucie App. Someone might want an IV drip set up at their house, or Botox, a private doctor and tennis coach. Suddenly a client will say, “Any chance we can have some massages later?” We’ll call in a masseuse who will go to the house.

Many of the chefs we use have trained in Michelin kitchens. They can do family-friendly meals or formal tasting menus.

We’ll bring in specialist Japanese chefs if required for sushi nights, or fire-cooking specialists for flame-grilled feasts. Some want big barbecues, others want themed dinners. We’ll tailor the decor — Chinese lanterns, for example, if it’s an Asian theme.

Before a celebrity client flies over, we’ll speak to assistants in Los Angeles to anticipate and replicate home comforts — cashmere blankets, a particular mattress topper, make sure their favourite Jo Malone candle is in the bathroom.

Some guests wanted a white Christmas — we called in a snow machine

I am often introduced to off-market homeowners who would like to rent their home but don’t know where to start. We take care of everything. We have teams of professional housekeepers who will pack up their belongings. Owners can choose to take the family portraits off the walls or replace their favourite china. I often sympathise with them because they have to strip out so much of their identity from their beautiful homes, bearing in mind they will be returning in a few months. But at the same time, no guest wants to feel afraid of what they’re touching.

Many of our team are former superyacht hostesses. They’ll do a deep clean to ensure a property is impeccably presented to the clients (they’ve been known to clean shower grouting with toothpicks). We’ll consult house owners on depersonalisation and to tell them consider things like dressing gowns, new bed linen and fluffy towels (my advice is the White Company).

The busiest times are May/June and then July and August, when we’re really busy with families during the school holidays. September can be hectic too.

Then it picks up again for Christmas. Last year, in one house, the children had never seen snow before and wanted a white Christmas — so we arranged a big snow machine and put it in the garden. We got pictures of the kids playing in the snow and everything had that blanket of white, a magical frosty look. And that’s the thing: we can even guarantee snow.

harradandbloom.com; @harradandbloom

Natasha Bateman: ‘I closed a deal on a 100-acre estate as my son was opening his Christmas presents’

I source off-market properties for uber-private clients and high-net-worth individuals to rent or buy. Often I work with Hollywood directors and actors who are filming at Shepperton and Pinewood and want to be based in the Cotswolds, because they can enjoy more privacy than they would in London but still get out to sceney clubs, pubs and restaurants. After all, it’s only a helicopter hop to the studios.

I need to operate with the utmost discretion and have the best of everything on speed dial, be it the interior designer who did the Beckhams’ place or a security team to spot prying drones. At my fingertips are pond landscapers, historic-house surveyors and £1,000-a-day chauffeurs who used to be in the SAS.

One client was looking for an entire house just for their dogs

Obviously, every house needs a pool, home gym, wine cellar and ideally a helipad. If clients are American, then air-con too. One client wanted a house with a separate lobby for their dogs and a dog butler. Another was looking for an entire country house just for their dogs.

These days, everyone also wants a padel court, a wild swimming lake and to look out on a skilfully curated view. So I’ll bring in my favourite landscaper, Marcus Barnett, who worked for the Beckhams, who is the most skilled you can get.

The Cotswolds is so hot right now that rentals will command anything from £15,000 to £100,000 per week. At the top end, places like Combe Manor and Crucis Park Estate — staffed to the max, with acres of land and a fabulous pool — rent for £50,000 to £100,000 a week. The best and biggest ultra-modern houses in the Lakes by Yoo estate, with lakes where children can sail and swim, go for £35,000 a week in summer.

If clients are buying, I tell them a good-size house with ten or more acres, all the “toys” — pool, tennis court, guest accommodation — and at least 8,000 sq ft of living space, beautiful views and extreme privacy will cost £7 million. A place in a top village such as Kingham, Churchill or around the Tews, near Soho Farmhouse and Daylesford, is going to cost them closer to £10 million. For a 500-acre estate, it could be up to £30 million.

Renovations will cost £2-4 million. A high-spec kitchen is a must — usually by Plain English, Artichoke or deVOL. Or I’ll provide my favourite joiners, Chiselworks, who work for the royal family, to create something bespoke. Bathrooms must be kitted out by the Water Monopoly and Drummonds.

On my speed dial I have interior designers like Sims Hilditch or Vicky Charles, whose clients include the Beckhams; or chic Bee Osborn, who did Jack Whitehall’s home. Then there’s architect Richard Parr, who did the Newt hotel and is known for getting complicated planning with listed properties over the line, and Tristan Salazar, the restoration specialist who designed the architectural details on Plum Sykes’s home near Stroud.

I can arrange a laser security boundary for extreme privacy

Security is crucial. I will get a laser boundary installed around a property. If I’m dealing with an estate that’s 100 acres, we’ll have patrols. I’ll also set up clients with the very best personal security detail: former military close protection officers who charge from £850 per day, plus VIP drivers.

My clients may be new buyers to the area from the US looking for a third, fourth or fifth home. Or “normal” families between houses looking to rent for six months. If they fly private then clients will want to be near Oxford or Kemble airports, or Luton if they’re coming in on bigger jets from the US. Most people ask me to find them a place in the “Golden Triangle”, which hits from Burford to Stow to the Tews and Soho Farmhouse — but I do try to explain that the Cotswolds spans six counties and is 800 square miles.

Renting out your home used to be slightly frowned upon by locals but, considering the sums of money involved, it has become a lot more tempting. Now, if owners are away for the summer anyway, they’ll know they can quietly hand me the keys (without publicising it, naturally) and I’ll take care of everything, effectively turning their place into a six-star hotel with staff, drivers, a £1,000-a-day chef and the best dog walkers in the county.

Need to check for bats in the roof? I can arrange that

If the property is near a village or road, there is the matter of making sure no one passing can snoop, so I call on Nicholsons, the landscaping company that works on the Blenheim Estate, to put in extra shrubbery and screening. The businesses I use are accustomed to signing non-disclosure agreements.

For planning I’ll bring in JPPC’s Neil Warner (famously seen on Clarkson’s Farm), who is the most sought-after planning consultant in the Cotswolds. I also know the best people to sort out ecology reports — such as checking for bats in the roof, which can only happen between May and October, so needs to be sorted fast.

When clients arrive in the Cotswolds, they’ll know all the private clubs. I also recommend the Bull in Charlbury, the Mason’s Arms in Clanfield, Pit Kitchen near Moreton-in-Marsh or the Woolpack in Slad. For my most private clients, I’ll book them into the Bull in Burford, which has a secret underground poker and tequila room for hire.

I work 24/7: I once closed a deal on a 100-acre estate for a client as my son was opening his presents on Christmas Day. But this is what it takes to do my job.

natashabateman.com