A Cotswolds weekend where you can play your traitor game

i I was sitting in the sauna of Gulliver’s Hall, an immaculate Gloucestershire party house, with my old friend Jack when suddenly the conversation turned serious. A few moments ago, we were talking about the events that had happened in our lives in the past few years, but now the conversation had changed.

“You’re telling me you won’t?” she asked me, looking deeply into my eyes. “Can I trust that you are faithful?”

No, she was not overprotective of my husband. We were in the middle of a very enjoyable game of Mafia, the dinner party game that is a popular BBC TV series. traitors is based on The game was going on all day in many spaces of the rambling Cotswolds house we had rented for the weekend.

The master bedroom in Gulliver's Hall — The master bedroom in Gulliver’s Hall (Unique Residences/David Curran)

I quizzed my friend Carla while playing croquet, tried to figure out if Nick was lying to me while soaking in the hot tub, and decided that Alice was telling the truth as we put our kids on the swing. We were pushing.

My friends and I first played Mafia together nearly 20 years ago when we were all in the same class at Oxford Drama School. For those who haven’t watched traitorsit’s a slightly more complicated version of Kill the Flash, where players are assigned the roles of villagers or mafia – or loyal or traitor, as they’re known in the TV game. Loyalists have to identify traitors by paying close attention to everyone’s behavior and body language, while traitors have to blatantly lie to their friends – that’s why our drama school chose it as an acting game.

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We timed our weekend meeting with the finals The last series of traitors In January, driving from our various bases across the UK and gathering in the large country kitchen of the seven-bedroom farmhouse. The giant table, built from oak 50 years ago, easily accommodated our clan of 19 for a feast cooked by a couple with the shortest distance to travel. Eleven children on one side and eight adults on the other side.

What a welcome: Floppy Jack “The Traitors” awaits guests in Gulliver’s Hall (Antonia Windsor)

We then lit a fire in the large living room’s medieval stone fireplace and snuggled up in the various chairs and sofas to watch the finale, while the children excitedly searched for ghosts in the bedrooms (they were the master bedroom with four rooms (the poster bed was definitely uninhabited).

The next morning, my 11-year-old daughter, Zayla, donned a black Claudia Winkleman wig and borrowed my black eyeliner, and after a noisy breakfast, the younger kids snuggled up to watch a movie. There they went, while the adults (and my 10-year-old son, Ziggy) very seriously took their places around the kitchen table, and the roles were drawn. I was assigned the role of loyalist and tried to guess who the traitors were – drawing unwanted attention to myself.

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Serious discussions at the first round table, with Antonia's daughter Zilla in the role — Serious discussions at the first round table, with Antonia’s daughter Zilla as “Claudia” (Antonia Windsor)

We decided to reconvene every hour for a round table (where one player is exiled by the faithful and one is murdered by the traitors), and the rest of the time we were free to enjoy the property as we would any other game. . The other weekend, the traitors discovered a secret door in the library’s bookcase, which was a perfect place for secret meetings.

Opposite the main building is a three bedroom pool house which rents a total of 10 rooms and is ideal for parties of our size. Outside is a sunken walled swimming pool and jacuzzi, while inside is a sauna and steam room, and a games room complete with projector and ping pong table. Several of my friends braved the icy water of the pool, which is heated from April to October, after stepping out of the sauna.

When you're not playing, the pool house is a great place to hang out — When you’re not playing, the pool house is a great place to hang out (Unique Residences/David Curran)

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Hozadar house has two kitchens, one inside and one outside. The latter is home to a wood-fired pizza oven, and so the game continued while my friend Mary helped the kids make pizza dough. I thought he wasn’t interested enough in finding traitors, which made him my prime suspect – but it turns out he was just distracted by cooking and I picked a loyalist.

The final round table in the pool house took place when all the pizzas were consumed and only four players remained in the game. It turned out that Jack, who had been questioning me fiercely about whether or not I was faithful in the sauna, thereby allaying my suspicions, had been a cheater all along.

Gulliver’s Hall is located near the village of Bisley in Gloucestershire and can be booked through. Unique houses; From £5,895 for three nights for up to 21 guests. uniquehomestays.com