One thing about me and my friends: if we’re getting together, we’re playing games. Our long-standing obsession is Mafia (if you know, you know). So when The Traitors tightened its grip on the nation, we watched with the quiet, dangerous confidence of people who believed they could absolutely do better. When the opportunity to celebrate my birthday at Ashwell Hall arose, I knew exactly how we’d be spending the weekend.
The manor sits on the edge of English Bicknor, tucked inside the ancient Forest of Dean. The drive up felt cinematic. Pheasants scattered while deer lingered behind bushes. The Georgian façade rises out of the trees, watching over the village with the sense of a house that has seen centuries of celebrations and secrets.
We arrived at the grand wooden doors of Ashwell Hall, my suitcase stuffed full of props, traitors’ cloaks and a black Claudia bob wig. Despite being a Grade II listed Georgian manor with medieval roots, once we were inside, it didn’t feel untouchable. Every room felt like a different chapter of its history. A grand yet cosy red-and-green lounge with huge fireplaces became our base for chatting and chilling between games. A vast country kitchen, complete with a huge, warm Aga and a stone hearth, felt like the heart of the house. Its dark, wood-panelled dining room was the perfect round-table setting. You do not need a game to make this house feel theatrical. But it helps.
The first thing we did when we got inside was run around like children, picking which room we wanted. The house sleeps 18 and has eight uniquely decorated bedrooms, so we were all spoilt for choice. As the birthday girl, my selection was easy. I went straight for the master room with an en suite. From minimalist to Art Deco and kitsch, each room had its own personality in its décor. The only uniting feature was the deliciously soft king-size mattresses and feather pillows, which had us all descending dreamily to the kitchen each morning, extremely well-rested.
Before we started playing, we wanted to acquaint ourselves with our setting. Our hosts had suggested a short walk to a viewpoint over the valley and the River Wye. We set off with the excitement of a group of city girls exploring the countryside. After a few wrong turns, and some help from friendly locals, we found ourselves exiting the dense forest to a beautiful cascading view overlooking the countryside. It was beautiful. I looked around at the faces of my friends, faces I saw every day during school or uni, but now not as often as I’d like, and I felt grateful for the opportunity to make new memories with them all as women.
Back at the house, the hosts made maintaining such a vast space feel easy. While we were out, they arrived quietly to light the fireplaces, heat up the wood-fired hot tub and set up the secret party basement. Beyond that, they answered every frantic question and somehow anticipated what we needed before we did. In a house this size, that kind of support is the difference between chaos and magic.
We got back from our walk, and it was finally Traitors O’Clock. In case you’re planning your own Traitors weekend, here is how I planned it.
How to Host Your Own Traitors Weekend
1. Gather a big group
We were twelve. Enough for suspicion to spread, but not so many that it became chaos.
2. Appoint your Claudia
Ours was Glamour’s beauty editor Dominic Cadogan, serving glamour and drama in equal measure. This person sets the tone, selects the Traitors and controls the twists, so commitment to the role is essential.
3. Build challenges around your group
I planned three rounds based entirely on our friendships and shared lore. You need games that have a clear winner and room for debating, twists and deception.
The first round was The Ledger of Truth, a quiz built from group statistics collected via a Google Doc. I sent my guests questions around their screen time, how many shoes they own, the number of dates they'd been on in 2025 and other painfully revealing facts. Once we had all submitted our answers, we got into groups of three and had to guess who had answered the highest for each question. Prize: The team with the most points could not be murdered by the traitors that ‘night’. Twist: the traitors already knew the answers, so they had been coaxing their team to choose the right answer, without being too obvious.
Next, we had The Alter Ego Trial, where I AI-generated a gender-swapped version of everyone. We got into pairs, and then Claudia asked “most likely to” questions (most likely to ghost you, most likely to listen to Steven Bartlett's podcast, most likely to call themselves an ‘alpha’ etc.). Prize: at the end of the challenge, it was revealed that the person with the most votes would get a double vote at the next round table. Twist: It was also revealed that the traitors knew what the prize was going to be.
Finally, we played a manor-appropriate game of hide and seek. Prize: The winner got to pick something from the prize bag. Twist: a shield (aka a toy dinosaur we found in the house) was hidden and available to the hiders to find during the game. Second Twist: during the hiding, the remaining Traitors had to murder in plain sight, by drawing on people's portraits in the round table room.
4. Iron out logistical kinks
Before we started, we decided which room would act as the Traitors' Turret, and everyone was assigned a room they would have to go to around the house when the Traitors would meet. Everyone popped headphones in during this time, and Claudia would also walk about, heeled boots clacking around the house, to disguise the sounds of the traitors scurrying to debrief and murder.
The format we followed for the game was as follows. We began with Claudia selecting their Traitors with a blindfolded round table. From then on, we had a break for discussion around the house, then a round table banishment and finally a murder between each game.
The formal dining room, with its carved walls and long table, was our Round Table HQ. Our hosts had dressed it Traitors-style with candelabras and a velvet runner, complete with freshly-bloomed snowdrops from the garden sitting in tiny vases. Dom paced the room, selecting our Traitors, boots echoing against the floorboards. When the masks came off, the game started, and even the shyest among us were instantly in character.
Four hours, several heated debates, accusations, faithful reveals and three games later, and the Traitors (aka me) had rightfully won. There was only one place appropriate to celebrate the end of the game.
Behind an unassuming wooden door and down a narrow staircase lies a full party sanctuary hidden beneath the house. Our hosts told us that centuries ago this space was used as a pub for the local villagers, and that we were the first group to use it outside their family since.
A bar with metal stools and fairy lights. A dance floor crowned with a disco ball. A DJ area. Two trunks of fancy dress. When the Traitors eventually claimed victory, we celebrated in sequins and angel wings, singing beneath spinning lights while upstairs others rotated through the ten-person wood-fired hot tub under a starry sky, unpolluted by neighbours or city lights. At one point, all of us squeezed into the bubbling water, laughing so hard it echoed back from the trees.
The beauty of a staycation at the manor is that it holds all of it effortlessly. Grand dinners. Petty arguments. Karaoke. Morning coffees in fluffy robes. Long walks through the surrounding countryside. Whatever kind of stay you’re planning for your big group, this is the perfect place to do it.
A stay at Ashwell Hall starts from £5,375 per night (between Feb 18th 2026 - Jan 1st 2027). For bookings, visit Oliver's Travels here.
