The Oxfordshire is the only UK course Rees Jones ever built, and it shows. Where most English courses lean parkland-traditional, this one borrows from the American tournament playbook – big earthworks, sand-based fairways, 135 bunkers and four sizeable lakes. The land is open and gently undulating rather than dramatic, but when the wind picks up across the ridgeline, the place plays a lot like a links. Off the back tees it stretches past 7,400 yards; from the whites it’s a fair test for a single-figure player and stays manageable from forward markers. The 17th – a 588-yard par five wrapped around water – is the hole everyone remembers.

The hotel is a contemporary four-star with 50 rooms, including four penthouse suites. Most have private balconies looking over the course or out across the Chilterns. Tempus Spa is the highlight off the course: indoor pool, sauna, steam room, hot tub and Japanese-style treatment rooms. Dining covers the Signature Restaurant overlooking the course, the quieter Lakes Lounge, and a Spike Bar that runs late enough for the post-round debrief.

For location, you’re 12 miles from Oxford – easy enough to head in for a college walk or dinner – and the M40 puts central London at about 40 minutes by car when the traffic plays ball. Thame itself is ten minutes down the road if you fancy a country-pub evening. Heathrow is a comfortable run, which makes the resort an obvious first or last stop for visiting golfers.