If you’ve followed this blog for any amount of time, you know that England was a frequent destination for us prior to 2020. I was lucky enough to travel to London for work a few times, and we would always make a stop over on our way to other European cities. This was our first trip back we’ve made since our 2020 trip got cancelled the week LA went on lockdown, and it was, quite possibly, my favorite. You’ll soon see why we loved it so much we decided to go back a year later. Estelle Manor is a new, luxury hotel and country club in Oxfordshire, and it made our stay truly special. Read on for what you need to know ahead of your stay! 

Estelle Manor is a 90-minute drive from Heathrow. Both trips, we flew on the one non-stop flight they have from Raleigh to London, arriving at 6:30am. It took 1.5 seconds to breeze through customs and our bags were already waiting when we arrived at baggage claim. We hopped in our rental car, taking a few minutes to adjust again to the wrong side of the car and wrong side of the road, and we were on property by 9:30am!

When we entered the private gates of Estelle Manor, I became Mary Lennox, living out my childhood fantasy from “The Secret Garden.” The manor house is grand—with high walled gardens, and bikes to explore the property. There are 108 hotel rooms, four restaurants, a workspace, a gym and an extraordinary 3000 sq meters Roman-inspired bath house and spa that opened three months ago.

Design legends Roman and Williams somehow managed to make the spaces feel Old World, yet contemporary, and taking in every single mind blowing detail became one of our favorite part of the experience. The vision is that of owner Sharan Pasricha, the founder of Ennismore (Hoxton hotels and others) with artistic direction of Sharan’s wife, investor Eiesha Bharti Pasricha. I seriously bow down. What they have created is astounding. 

Throw open the doors, kind sir, your footman will escort you to your room. This is Estelle Manor, and it’s my next Stylish Stay. 

What I Loved: The attention to detail at every turn was unsurpassed. From the design to the bar to the service to the food to the rooms to the gardens—you would be hard pressed to find a flaw. We specifically wanted to return to visit the Eynsham Baths, the Roman-inspired spa.  I highly recommend doing a day pass so that you can go in and out of the Thermal Journey (tepid pool, hot tub, cold tubs, steam room, sauna, outdoor hot tub, etc) at your leisure. Otherwise, you have to book a specific 90-hour window to use the baths. Bath access is not included in your spa treatment, which was my only gripe. *I wasn’t allowed to take photos, but you can check it out here. The Warrior Massage was quite possibly the best massage I’ve had anywhere. And that’s saying something. 

Something to Know: The hotel is also a private club, and a DJ was playing one night on our trip last year (we were told). While I can’t say for certain since we weren’t staying in the main house, I would imagine the noise could be hard to control. We were so happy we were in the cozy and quiet Walled Garden bedroom, which is separate from the main house. It definitely felt like all of society had discovered the place since our visit a year ago. A flock of luxury sports cars zoomed in one after the other on Saturday morning, someone arrived by helicopter as we made our way to our low end rental car, and a very famous comedian ex talk show host sat across from us at breakfast with her actress wife (any guesses?). 

Suite Dreams: We loved our room both times! I would highly recommend the Walled Garden Cottage near The Glass House. It had a large separate sitting area, which was perfect for my husband, who always wakes at the crack of dawn. It also had the most incredible amenities, such as a curling iron, that I tried to buy once we got back to the states, and they don’t ship outside the UK (boo hoo!). My hair stylist uses this similar one, though and it’s on my Christmas list! When you opened up the mini bar, it was anything but mini. It was so thoughtfully stashed with eye masks and craft cocktail mix and so many fun things—no detail was overlooked! I also loved the Commune products in the bathroom—which I gave as client gifts last year! 

Stylish Sips: We often joke that it’s hard to mess up a Negroni, but it takes a very good bartender to make it something special. The cocktails were so good, that we called over the Drinks Specialist (that’s what they prefer to be called) to talk about their secret sauce. Don’t miss dinner in the Glass House, which was the best meal we had our entire trip. *We visted The Glass house again on this trip and found it equally as delicious. 

Cool Factor: A self-proclaimed “new school club with old school values,” they have succeeded in their mission to feel unstuffy. A membership gets you access to the members only areas, events, supper clubs and workshops, The Clubhouse workspace, 20% off a stay. If I lived in London, this would be a no brainer! 

Hero Shot:  From the end of the pool looking back at the house. Spectacular! 

The sitting area in our room had warm and cozy vibes when we made a fire one night and watched the rest of the Beckham documentary. 

The post Estelle Manor, A Luxury Hotel in Oxfordshire Updated October 2024 appeared first on The Sought After.

Do you know how many photographs have been captured with each of your cameras? If not you’re setting yourself up for a potential disaster. That because the shutter in all cameras has a limited lifespan, varying from one model to another. And if this critical component fails unexpectedly, you’ll be left holding an expensive brick in your hands.

Shutter count is also a key consideration when buying or selling used cameras so that no unfortunate surprises arise. In this important video from our friends at the Be More, Do More, Have More channel  you’ll learn how shutter count works, see ratings for different camera models, and understand what happens when your camera’s shutter fails.

Some photographers merely estimate shutter activations based upon usage, but the only reliable determination involves checking shutter count yourself. Today’s instructor Shawn explains the simple steps, and we strongly recommend following his advice for the reasons mentioned above. The last thing you want is for your camera to fail when traveling far from home—and buying a dud that’s on its last legs is equally disappointing.

Shawn explains his goal for today’s “crucial” episode like this: “We explain the difference between mechanical and electronic shutters, how different cameras from Sony, Canon and Nikon compare, and what you should consider when buying a used camera.

At some point during Shaw’s thorough discussion of the rationale behind this important task, you’re likely think to think to yourself, “OK, I understand the why, so walk me through the how.” And that’s exactly what you’ll learn to do in the final four minutes of the video.

We bet that once you’re done watching you’ll grab your favorite camera(s) and check the shutter count per Shaw’s directions so you’ll know exactly where you stand and what to expect over time.

The Be More, Do More, Have More YouTube channel features an array of maintenance lessons for cameras, lenses, and important photo accessories, so be sure to take a look.

The prevuous episode we shared demonstrates another essential task; namely how to keep memory cards in top shape and prevent losing your photographs before disaster strikes.

It’s usually pretty easy to find a beautiful landscape scene while traveling through the backcounty, but it can be far more challenging to translate what you see in the viewfinder to an exceptional image. In this episode from one of our favorite young outdoor photographers you’ll learn four shooting and editing tips that anyone can accomplish with ease.

Photographer Austin James Jackson is a Utah-based pro who shares in-the-field videos and post-processing tutorials that will help landscape shooters of all skills levels improve their results. This episode describes how to inject depth and dimension for attention-grabbing landscape photos.

Jackson puts it like this: “Creating depth in your images in one of the best ways you can enhance your landscape photography, and I’m going to cover how to do this with just a few clicks in the camera or on the computer.” The techniques you’ll learn in barely 14 minutes are equally powerful for improving other types of outdoor photography.

Jackson begins with a simple image-editing trick for adding more contrast to the foreground of a shot as compared to areas that are further back in the frame. He explains that landscape scenes inherently display more contrast in areas close to the camera because faraway elements tend to suffer from atmospheric haze.

It’s easy to accentuate this disparity with a simple and effective Lightroom edit—thereby increasing the apparent depth throughout the image. What about when you’re out in the field? Jackson describes the importance of “thinking about separation in your images.” In other words, consider how objects, the foreground, and the background interact to significantly boost depth.

This technique can be accomplished with the careful use of light, but Jackson says “it can be a lot easier to do this via color and paying close attention to what appears behind the key element in a scene.” You’ll also see how a small shift in your vantage point factors into the equation.

There are two more foolproof methods to go; one accomplished in the camera and the other during post processing. Along the way you’ll pick up some valuable compositional advice for injecting dimension and eye appeal to every image you shoot.

After watching the video head over to Jackson’s instructional YouTube channel where you’ll find many more videos targeted at landscape photographers and others who regularly shoot in the great outdoors.

And if you want to do things differently and capture photos with a unique look, be sure to watch an earlier tutorial from another accomplished pro who demonstrates why and how you should experiment with shooting landscape photographs after dark.