Woodstock has everything you’d want from a Cotswolds market town – honey-stone architecture, indie shops galore and excellent gastropubs. Now there’s another feather in its cap – quite literally.

Woodstock’s historic hotel-cum-pub-restaurant, The Feathers, has re-opened after a multimillion-pound refurb, and it’s quite the destination. It has 23 spruced up rooms, including three suites called The Robin, The Goldcrest, and The Nightingale; a stylish brasserie called The Nest, overseen by head chef Luke Rawicki; and The Aviary Bar – the place to hang for cocktails, fine wines or a few rounds of Jeremy Clarkson’s Hawkstone homebrew.

The Nest has warm, inviting interiors and it’s a cosy spot year-round, serving up top-notch modern European fare – one signature dish is stuffed saddle of South West lamb with peas, mint salsa verde and Jersey Royal. The three-course festive menu is a treat too. Book here and choose from the likes of chalk stream trout gravlax, Devon brown crab risotto and traditional Christmas pudding with brandy raisin ice-cream for £68pp, then repair to the Aviary for an expertly mixed cocktail or three (well, it is Christmas).

Hotelier Gordon Campbell Gray named The Feathers after his collection of preserved birds. With Blenheim Palace on your doorstep, this zhushed up bolthole has much to make you chirpy.