Hollywood's Cotswolds obsession is pricing out ordinary tourists, with once-humble pubs now charging £1,000 for a weekend stay - as Sydney Sweeney is latest star set to move in

The charm of the Cotswolds is nothing new; everyone from Sir Winston Churchill to Lord of the Rings writer JRR Tolkien and the Royal Family have admired a region that brims with honey-hued villages and 800 square miles of pretty English countryside. Hollywood has been rather late to the Cotswolds party...but is certainly making up for it now. Recent years have seen a carousel of celebrities hopping across the Pond, donning Hunter wellies and Barbour jackets, sipping pints in the region's plentiful pubs and generally enjoying the quaint novelty of life in rural England.Ex talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi have decamped there permanently, pop royalty Beyonce and Jay-Z are fans, potential Trump successor JD Vance chose the Cotswolds for his summer holiday last summer and Taylor Swift based herself in the region during her 2024 Eras Tour. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, after six years of living in the luxurious enclave of Montecito, California, moved to the Cotswolds in late August, finally getting their keys to a permanent home last weekend. The news this week that actress Sydney Sweeney, who spent Christmas in the Cotswolds last year, has been house-hunting in the tiny village of Little Tew, which has no shops and no pubs, is likely to evoke a major eye-roll from those born and raised in the region – as well as staycationers who've suddenly found the prices a little sharper. The actress would be joining the 'Cotswolds set' which already includes the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the Beckhams and Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi Sydney enjoyed a festive break in the Cotswolds with her pal as they took a dip in a hot tub Those who've faithfully holidayed in the Cotswolds for decades in camp-sites, B&Bs and hotels that were always affordable have seen costs steadily inflate. The tourism gloss that Hollywood has brought has seen more traditional – twee might be the right word – establishments left in the shadows by gastropubs, luxury resorts and trendy cafes, all of which come with prices that cash in on the region's popularity. Next year will see high-end cabin brand CABÜ open a £24million resort just a short drive from Soho Farmhouse, the members-only property that has seen everyone from Tom Cruise to Ariana Grande checking in since it first opened in 2015.In the early days of their relationship, Harry and Meghan also often hung out at the Cotswolds retreat Soho Farmhouse, where luxury cabins cost up to £1,200 a night, and it was also the destination for the Duchess of Sussex's low-key hen do in early March 2018. Bedding down in a once humble Cotswolds pub – particularly if a starry name has sipped a pint at the bar – can come with a regal price tag. A night this December at The Bell pub in Charlbury, which Queen Camilla is known to be a fan of, for example, currently costs £477. Book lunch too and a weekend stay rings through the pub till at more than £1,000 for two people. The Cotswolds have been wooing visitors for centuries but Hollywood stars have become particularly fixated with the pretty English region - sending tourism prices upMeanwhile The Bull on Sheep Street, just up the road, has hosted the likes of Robbie Williams, Ellen DeGeneres and Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice, and is such a hit it's fully booked until January. Even in January, one of the cheapest months of the year, a room at The Bull will set you back £480 for a weekend stay for two people. Larger groups also face increased prices; self-catering properties in the Cotswolds are sought after during the summer months, with a family of four likely to pay around £1,500 for an Airbnb property or similar, rising to almost double that for late bookers. Food and drink prices are also at the top end of the UK tourist price scale, with a pint of local beer around £6.30, around 80 pence more than the UK average. A Sunday roast costs from around £25, with popular gastropubs hiking prices up to around £35. While California-based stars continue to fixate with owning an English country bolt-hole, the Cotswolds is likely to only get more expensive. The Housemaid star Sydney Sweeney, 29, is apparently looking to split her time between the English countryside and her homes in Los Angeles and the Florida Keys.The Euphoria actress is said to have viewed homes in the village of Little Tew, which is just a stone's throw from Harry and Meghan.A source told The Sun: 'Sydney has visited the Cotswolds twice in the past ten months, and absolutely loves it. She viewed property there within the past three months.Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have finally found a private country retreat for themselves and their two children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five. After an extensive property search with a reported £10million budget, the Sussexes moved into their new home over the weekend. The Cotswolds' list of famous residents has grown significantly in recent years, with the region's quaint pubs popular with A-listers (Pictured: The Fox in Oddington) The property is said to sit within the estate of a wealthy businessman friend, with whom the couple had been staying since moving from California earlier this year, the Daily Mail's Richard Eden revealed.But while the Cotswolds may offer the couple the privacy and seclusion they crave, will they really fit in among their new neighbours?One royal commentator has suggested they could find themselves out of their depth in such star-studded surroundings.Richard Fitzwilliams told the Daily Mail: 'It depends who they befriend but given that there are (other) royals there and the likes of the Beckhams, they will be out of their depth as they have pretensions to be A-listers but are not!'They were not a success in Hollywood. No one else is like them though, which is probably just as well. She failed at the Daytime Emmys and joins Junior MasterChef in Australia, perhaps in the Cotswolds she will find her own level.'But for a couple famous for wanting privacy, the Cotswolds may not prove the best option.Victoria Summerley has lived in Bibury for 14 years, which is home to only 600 residents but sees as many as 20,000 visitors in a single day during peak periods.She told the BBC how the behaviour of some tourists had grown worse over the years since the pandemic and described 'unbelievable' amounts of litter in the stream.Given their celebrity status, Harry and Meghan's arrival in the village will no doubt contribute to the Cotswolds' already considerable tourist appeal. Mr Fitzwilliams is similarly pessimistic about what existing Cotswolds residents might think about their new neighbours.'The locals generally are likely to dislike the Sussexes' presence in the Cotswolds as we know they are chronically unpopular in Britain,' he says.'This is a rural area with traditional English villages, rolling hills and also a royal presence.'Such areas tend to be extremely supportive of the monarchy. In the case of the Sussexes, they have ruthlessly exploited their royal connections and the world knows this.'The often wealthy, conservatively inclined residents of the Cotswolds would look on this with extreme disfavour.'To make matters worse, Mr Fitzwilliams predicts Harry and Meghan could 'act as a draw to a certain number of tourists simply by getting the area in the media'.He adds: 'The hype is likely to be of some significance.'