This essay is based on a conversation with Frances Schultz, an American artist and writer in her mid-60s who lived in the Hamptons and now owns a house in the Cotswolds. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I moved to the Hamptons, in spite of it being the Hamptons, and later to the Cotswolds, in spite of it being the “Hamptons of England.” The status-symbol side of these places was never what drew me in.
The Hamptons and the Cotswolds are completely different from one another, but there’s a reason they’re both so popular: They’re fantastic. They have beautiful houses, interesting people, and great restaurants and stores.
Both are attractive, but the Cotswolds called to me for other reasons — the beauty, the history, the people and their sense of humor, and the way I sometimes feel like I’m living in a very wholesome BBC television series.
I’m originally from North Carolina and spent most of my adult life there and in Georgia, but I’d always wanted to live in New York.
In my early forties, back in 2000, I finally made the move. I bought an apartment in the city and a little cottage in East Hampton, thinking I’d be able to visit the Hamptons for a few weeks at a time. I could only afford the cottage because it needed a lot of work, but restoring it made me happy.
It had a small garden, and for a time, the cottage was just perfect. I could cut flowers and keep vases of them all over the house. But the idea of staying there for weeks at a time was unrealistic. I was bouncing back and forth between the city and the Hamptons a lot. It was pretty strenuous constantly packing, unpacking, and driving the three-hour slog on the highway every weekend.
The English countryside felt like the perfect antidote
Not long after I bought the cottage, I also met a man who lived on a ranch in Southern California. We started doing the bicoastal commute and, after four years, we married. I started living in California while still maintaining the properties in New York.
My husband wasn’t keen on traveling to the Hamptons, and I wasn’t spending enough time there to justify the big investment. So, eventually, in 2017, I decided to sell the East Hampton cottage.
The marriage ended a couple of years ago, but I’d already become interested in the idea of owning a house in the English countryside long before then. It felt so different from the California desert, where you could grow grapes and dahlias, but otherwise it was hot and dry most of the time.
The English countryside felt like the perfect antidote, and without my Hamptons cottage, it also felt like it could fill a real hole in my life.
England called to me. I like the culture, the history, and the literature. I love the houses, the flowers, and Georgian architecture, and, most of all, I adore the English sense of humor. You can always manage to have a funny time talking to everyone, from Lady So-and-So at a drinks party to the server in a pub.
I have a friend whom I met in London 35 years ago, who lives in the Cotswolds, with whom I started discussing the idea of owning a house in the English countryside. We agreed that I should rent a house in the Cotswolds first to see how I’d like it.
‘Buying a place in Connecticut would have been much easier’
I spent the summer of 2023 in the Cotswolds, and I loved it. Very soon after, I started working with a professional house hunter. We found this house in Painswick, Gloucestershire — or rather, it found me. It’s not in the “posh” part of the Cotswolds, near Burford, Bibury, or Bourton-on-the-Water, but it’s still part of the AONB — an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
I bought it in the fall of 2023 for £1.5 million. Honestly, buying a place in Connecticut would have been much easier. The process was a heavy lift, no matter how you look at it.
The house needed work, and I had to understand the different laws around conservation and the costs of renovating in the UK. I was doing it from the US, and the time difference alone, as well as the other logistical challenges of doing this from across the ocean, added time and expense to the whole process.
The house was nearly ready this past summer. I spent June through early September in the Cotswolds, and I’m back again now after a brief stint in the US.
The good thing about my job as a painter and writer is that I can do them anywhere, and the four-hour time difference between London and New York is easily surmounted. Being able to paint, cook, and write in my house this summer has been so gratifying.
I often ask myself, ‘Do I like the Cotswolds more than the Hamptons?’
In East Hampton, I think there is a cohesive community of people who live there year-round, but I never felt part of it. Instead, it’s all these busy New Yorkers spending their busy weekends in busy East Hampton. In the Cotswolds, however, there are people from all walks of life.
My neighbors in Painswick have all become friends. We have each other’s keys and look after each other. When I walk to the post office, I add 15 extra minutes because I’ll stop for at least two or three conversations. That doesn’t happen in East Hampton.
It really is so charming in the Cotswolds.
In the Hamptons, I loved being near the sea. I miss dipping my toes in the ocean and seeing my New York friend. But we have Zoom, and you quickly find out that when you have a house in a place people love to visit, people will visit.
People are sometimes surprised that I made this move in my mid-sixties. But, girl, if you’re getting up there in age, you’d better start figuring out what you want in life. I think I still have a lot of runway left, but I know the end is out there, and I can see it.
This stage in life brings maturity and wisdom, making you realize the importance of focusing on who you are and what you want.
It’s clear that the Cotswolds are a better fit for me at this point, and living here is what I want.
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