Although JD Vance is likely to be charmed by the classic British countryside during his upcoming visit to the Cotswolds, he may not receive the warmest of welcomes from its locals.
American expats who live in the English area of protected natural beauty have told the Daily Mail the Vice President is ‘not a popular figure here’ thanks to the Trump administration’s right-wing politics and aggressive international foreign policy.
In fact, many Yankees who now live in the Cotswolds are political refugees who retreated from the US to the quiet land of honey-colored cottages and softly spoken neighbors after Donald Trump was elected for a second presidential term.
Ellen DeGeneres was perhaps the most high-profile politically motivated mover, and real estate agents in the area previously told the Daily Mail they’ve seen a major influx of Americans moving to the English vacation spot over the past few years.
Forty-year-old Vance is set to visit Charlbury, a Cotswolds parish around 12 miles northwest of Oxford, for his annual break with wife Usha and children Ewan Blaine, Vivek and Mirabel, in August.
Home to 91,000 people, the Cotswolds, which straddles six southern English counties and is governed from Gloucestershire, comprises the largest swathe of protected natural beauty in the United Kingdom.
Punctuated by quirky local businesses and cozy limestone cottages, its stunning green pastures have long presented an attractive escape just 90 minutes by train from London for those wealthy enough to afford a second home.
Local councilor Sandra Smith (who requested we use a pseudonym to protect her identity due to concerns about traveling as a naturalized Brit under Donald Trump’s administration) moved to the beautiful spot in 1987 from Seattle, Washington.
Americans are flocking to the ‘Hamptons of England’ where the cost of buying a charming countryside property is 40 percent cheaper than purchasing stateside. Punctuated with honey-colored limestone cottages like those shown above, the Cotswolds is a popular escape
American expats who live in the Cotswolds have told the Daily Mail that Vice President JD Vance (pictured) is ‘not a popular figure here’ thanks to the Trump administration’s right-wing politics and aggressive international foreign policy
She said she gave up her American citizenship decades ago in exchange for a British passport.
Smith told the Daily Mail that Vance’s comments about the UK and his politics mean many locals aren’t thrilled about his visit.
Earlier this year Vance appeared to refer to the UK as a ‘random country’ in an attempt to downplay the importance of its voice on the international stage during the debate about how the new Trump administration would handle the war in Ukraine.
His Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump also turned heads in the UK as the American heavyweights initially withheld weapons needed to defend Ukraine against Russia in the European war.
‘JD Vance is not a popular figure here,’ Smith, who lives in the ‘Cotswolds capital’ of Cirencester told the Daily Mail.
‘His brand of governance isn’t what they like in Britain. He’s what British people consider to be quite rude and outspoken. We all remember how he behaved toward Zelenskyy.
‘In Cirencester where I live, I think people just generally feel kind of a distaste and confusion, because, of course, he said all sorts of very offensive things about Britain when he first took over his role, and now he’s here on holiday, and Trump is here on holiday. Why did he criticize us and then choose to come here on holiday?’
Smith continued, saying she doesn’t think Vance ‘understands the British way of life’ or ‘how we behave toward one and other’, which she described as ‘a more measured way than he’s probably used to.’
Smith said that high-profile Americans who have been seen flocking to the Cotswolds, including Kourtney Kardashian, ‘don’t really interact with us’ and live in a ‘celebrity bubble’.
Though, she guesses that if local people saw Vance in the street ‘they would probably just point, stare and laugh, but I don’t think they would actually go and speak to him.’
The Cotswolds is a picturesque holiday destination located a scenic 90-minute train ride from London. Popular destinations include the ‘golden triangle’ of villages, which are most easily accessible from London – comprising Stow-on-the-Wold, Chipping Norton and Burford
However, local councilor Sandra Smith, who moved to the charming spot in 1987 from Seattle, Washington, told the Daily Mail that Vance’s international politics mean many locals aren’t thrilled about his visit. She cited his Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy, shown above
Indiana-born Audrey Ann Masur (pictured), 37, who has lived in the Cotswolds for five years, said she thinks JD Vance will be charmed by the quintessential British countryside
‘We have famous people around here all the time and everybody just leaves them alone,’ Smith said.
‘We have various TV celebrities just walking through the town and they’re just living their lives here, and people don’t interact with them, usually.’
Fashion journalist and socialite Plum Sykes told BBC Radio 4’s PM show that the Vance family would be staying in a rented house in Oxfordshire.
Sykes revealed this as Trump visited the UK this week to inaugurate his new golf course and held talks with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
American expat Audrey Ann Masur, who has lived in the Cotswolds for five years, said she hails from a similar neck of the woods as Ohio-born and Kentucky-raised Vance.
Masur, 37, told the Daily Mail she thinks he’ll be enthralled by the natural beauty of the land.
‘I’m from Indiana, one of Kentucky and Ohio’s neighboring states, and I especially enjoy the rolling hills of the Cotswolds – the landscape of fields, hedgerows and trees,’ she said. ‘It’s a peaceful and beautiful view.’
The Cotswolds is also often frequented by the ‘Chipping Norton set’ – a group of media, political and show-business heavyweights who have homes close to the Cotswolds town of Chipping Norton.
Home to 91,000 people, the Cotswolds, which straddles six southern English counties and is governed from Gloucestershire, comprises the largest swathe of protected natural beauty in the United Kingdom. (Pictured: sheep grazing close to Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds)
David and Victoria Beckham live in a Cotswolds mansion. (Pictured: the couple celebrating David’s 50th birthday at the mansion with their friend and celebrity hairstylist Ken Paves)
Tourists from all over the UK and the world make the pilgrimage to Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm and farm shop in the Cotswolds. (Pictured on season 1 of Clarkson’s Farm)
They include former UK Prime Minister David Cameron, David and Victoria Beckham and Top Gear star Jeremy Clarkson, who owns the Diddly Squat farm tourist attraction.
Speculation has been swirling that Vance will meet up with the right-wing elites who live in the Cotswolds during his visit.
‘They’re probably going to show him a good time because it helps them with their political profiles,’ Smith told the Daily Mail.
‘I think it’s very much the cozy right-wing Oxfordshire set that are inviting him over to groom him into being their supporters and so they can gain from it politically.
‘And it’s beautiful here, let’s be honest,’ she said, adding that the area is often featured in movies because of its charm.
‘I’ve had Americans come over here and they don’t know anything about the Cotswolds but they think it’s «really cute!»‘
Smith said she only planned on moving to the area for two years back in the 1980s, but she fell in love with the ‘tiny houses and cars’ and ‘sense of community’.
‘I just really like living in Britain,’ she said. ‘The American middle-class lifestyle is a big house and a big car – but it’s a bit soulless.
Local councilor Sandra Smith, who lives in the ‘Cotswolds capital’ of Cirencester (pictured), said she only planned on moving to the area for two years back in the 1980s, but she fell in love with the ‘tiny houses and cars’ and ‘sense of community’
JD Vance took his kids, and about 50 secret service, on a fun day out at Disneyland recently
Speculation has been swirling that Vance will meet up with the right-wing elites who live in the Cotswolds during his visit
‘You spend a lot of time driving around to shopping malls in the US and everything is so far apart. I love how you can do anything on foot around here.
‘Plus, my friends from America are always talking about gun crimes and shootings. Nothing like that happens here. It’s wonderfully boring and stable.’
Though celebrities and high-flying businessmen occasionally threaten the natural harmony of the area, Smith, who works in town planning, said the Cotswolds will retain its unique charm.
‘Much of the Cotswolds is a conservation area, which means developers can’t change much,’ she told the Daily Mail.
‘This is how it retains its character – it’s always going to be this way.’
Though, American expats do bring a host of new demands to the area while embracing quintessential English country life.
Pictured: JD Vance, his wife Usha Vance, daughter Mirabel and sons Ewan and Vivek pose during their tour at the Taj Mahal earlier this year
Ellen DeGeneres (left) and her wife, actress Portia de Rossi (right), left the United States after Donald Trump’s Election win
Pictured: Harry Gladwin, Cotswolds partner for The Buying Firm property consultancy
Cotswolds Council leader Joe Harris said Yankees are now ‘all over’ the area. ‘We have an American member on our council,’ he told the Daily Mail. ‘Most people in our area know an American or have an American neighbor.’
Private members clubs have proliferated in the Cotswolds in recent years, reflecting this influx of a new kind of wealth akin to the Hamptons elite – as opposed to the traditional agricultural landowning families who have lived in the area for centuries.
English real estate experts Camilla Dell and Harry Gladwin told the Daily Mail that Americans have increasingly been looking to the UK for home purchases over the past five years.
‘Americans are a significant buying force for UK property,’ said Dell, the founder of Black Brick property consulting firm, where 25 percent of clients are from the US, bringing an average budget of $1 million to $10 million for a second home.
Dell, who has a holiday home in the Cotswolds, said Americans started flocking to the UK in greater numbers ‘five to six years ago’, when the dollar was comparatively strong against the pound in the aftermath of Brexit.
‘When Americans think of the quintessential British countryside, the Cotswolds comes to mind,’ Dell said.
