Season two arrives on Disney+ with an aristocratic, 1980s country-hedonist atmosphere that still matches the Cotswolds’ tweed-and-hockey-sticks feel. Jilly Cooper’s Rutshire characters and settings draw on her Gloucestershire surroundings, with Bisley as her home and Tetbury inspiring Cotchester. A Rivals summer can include watching polo at Beaufort Polo Club, where many weekday matches are free from the sidelines and ticketed events like the Beaufort International provide deeper immersion. For scenery and social-country vibes, walk the Bathurst Estate and Cirencester Park, then round out the day with traditional pubs and eateries that revive 1980s classics.
"The Cotswolds will be having a summer, so it seems, thanks to season two of the hit show landing on Disney+ in all its aristo-rural, 80s hedonist glory. And while Jilly Cooper's fictional county of Rutshire might play host to the likes of Rupert Campbell-Black in an era that far pre-dates the region's current reputation for glossy private members' clubs and maddening tourist crowds, that original essence - all tweed, dogs and hockey sticks - is still palpable, if you know where to go."
"As a Gloucestershire local herself, Cooper based her Rivals characters - and setting - on the very social scene she was surrounded by, as many of her former neighbours have attested. Her own home was in the quiet, picture-book village of Bisley, though it was nearby market town Tetbury that truly inspired the fictional Cotchester where the Rivals gang get up to no good. So if a day out at the polo or a woodland walk with hounds in arms is your thing, there's plenty of inspiration to be taken from Jilly Cooper's pages."
"Visit Beaufort Polo Club Tetbury's famed-yet-friendly Beaufort Polo Club was Cooper's direct inspiration for many of her plotlines (particularly for Polo, the third book in the Rutshire Chronicles series, but also as the basis for her equestrian rogue Rupert Campbell-Black). All are welcome to attend and watch this ancient ball sport in action - most weekday matches are free to watch from the sidelines, though ticketed events such as the annual Beaufort International (June 13th, this year) offer an opportunity to truly immerse in the country culture of it all. And yes, you do get to stomp the divots."
"Walk around the Bathurst Estate and Cirencester Park It's easy to imagine the plummy Lady Monica Baddingham residing on the sprawling Bathurst Estate,"
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