Great Tew & the Nortons

Hook Norton Brewery

In which we hike across NW Oxfordshire to the Falkland Arms, Great Tew, get a whole lotta Hooky and join the Chipping Norton set on a Saturday evening.

I put the new 2020 Good Beer Guide in the back pack -  heavy, after a few miles.  Oxfordshire has 16 pubs making a new appearance or re-appearance in this years guide, 4 of which we planned to visit on this trip.

We hopped off the bus at Enstone, setting out on footpaths to Church Enstone, then onward in the direction of Heythrop.

There's a few places in this area where I've come across llama's in the field.  Always nice. 
Never miss a llama photo opportunity.

But in the next field was something I really hadn't been expecting to see in a North Oxfordshire field...

Oxfordshire camels.

Yep, we did take a fair few camel pictures before continuing our journey.  We walked tentatively past "Bull in Field" signage, skirted around the village of Little Tew, and arrived at Great Tew.  Just in time to be beaten by the lunchtime crowd, who were trying to form a queue at the bar.

The Falkland Arms (19-21 The Green, Great Tew, OX7 4DB - web)
The Falkland Arms is located in 17th century buildings, half thatched and much of it covered in foliage.  Step inside and it has flagstone floors, oak beams and an inglenook fireplace.  Despite attracting tourists and being in the Michelin guide, it's a great unspoiled village pub, full of character.

Falkland Arms, Great Tew.

Bad picture of impressive display of mugs.

We took our beers out to the garden to the rear of the pub, an undeniably charming spot in the September sunshine, with the landscaped Great Tew estate behind it.

Where next?

Leaving the Falkland Arms we walked down a lane, past a tour guide explaining thatched roofs to a group of tourists. 
No more camels on this leg of the walk....disappointing.
But once we'd crossed the A361, the last couple of miles took us through some marvelous countryside that made up for the lack of unusual livestock.
Hook Norton is a historic, pleasant village which is home to just over 2000 people.  All attracted by the prospect of living close to a Victorian tower brewery and having an ample supply of 'Old Hooky', no doubt. 

Sun Inn (Main Street, Hook Norton, OX15 5NH - web)
At the heart of the village, The Sun is Hook Norton's GBG entry.  There's a handful of locals propping up the bar and a few visitors and cyclists on the sunny tables out front.  The beer choice includes a rugby-themed offering from Wadworth alongside 'Hooky', 'Old Hooky' and 'Hooky Gold'.  After the walk and the vast amount of stiles that we seem to have climbed over the Hooky tastes wonderful and I have an empty glass in no time at all.

It being just a short way down the road to the brewery, we called in there and picked up a couple of bottles of their '170 Anniversary Ale'.  This allowed a speedy pit-stop at the Pear Tree. 

Pear Tree Inn (Scotland End, Hook Norton, OX15 5NU - web)
The longest surviving Hook Norton Brewery pub, it's been part of their estate since 1869.  Despite being a sizable 3-storey building, the bar itself is relatively small, with just handful of tables either side of the bar.  There's plenty of outdoor seating, with a family-friendly garden to the rear.
Being 200 meters from the brewery, it acts as brewery tap.  I got to try something a bit different here, with 'Groundhopper Ale' being available - a beer brewed for the village football club.

Drinking-up in time to catch the bus, we made the 25-minute journey on the 488 service to Chipping Norton.
Very convenient for where the bus dropped us, the Fox was the first of two Good Beer Guide-listed pubs in the town.

The Fox (Market Place, Chipping Norton, OX7 5DD - web)And I'm afraid I didn't especially like it...
It's a pub and hotel with a pretty swanky looking restaurant (to be fair, most restaurants look swanky to a scruffy bugger like me).  The Fox is a modern conversion of an old building and I just felt that it lacked a bit of character.
But it's in the beer guide thanks to it's beer.  The Hooky regulars were joined by two seasonal's on this visit, and there was no denying that  'Autumn Ways' a 4.2% ABV
American amber ale was in good condition and thoroughly enjoyable.

The original plan was to grab something to eat at the Fox but, being a class-act, I shunned the highly-rated food and headed around the corner for £7 pizzas from a hut in a pub garden.

Red Lion (Albion Street, Chipping Norton, OX7 5BJ - web)
Apparently the smallest pub in Chipping Norton, the Red Lion dates back to 1684.
The single room is indeed small, but making the most of the weather we took our drinks outside onto the terrace where an outdoor TV was showing Newcastle and Brighton slog out a dull 0-0 draw.  Like the Fox, it's a Hook Norton Brewery pub, this time with just 'Hooky' on the bar alongside 'Old Rosie' cider.

And also on the terrace was the source of my £7 pizza: Pizza Shack.  More a hut than a shack, I thought, but I'm told that name's taken.

The Pizza Shack.

Popular pub name.

Fed and watered, we just had time to tick-off the second Beer Guide pub in town prior to catching the 7:35 bus back to Oxford.

Chequers (Goddards Lane, Chipping Norton, OX7 5NP)
The Chequers was a great looking pub.  Stepping through the door, it's all dark wood, dimly lit, with multiple cosy areas to tuck yourself away in.
Alongside the Fullers beers here there were a couple of guest ales, with the Hackney Brewery 'Interface' pale ale catching my eye.  A great last beer of the day, in a pub that I would definitely revisit next time I'm in 'Chippy'. 

The respectable folk of Chipping Norton outside the Chequers.

Hops! Stocks Farm & Hop Shed Brewery

Humulus Lupulus in Latin - the 'wolf of the woods'.
Originating in SE Asia, hops made their way to Europe in the 9th century and to Britain in the 15th century.  Historically used to stop beer going sour, they now determine the bitterness and aroma of most of our beers.

...And we had the great opportunity to visit a hop farm and learn more about them.
On a sunny September morning we set off from Oxford to Stocks Farm, situated just west of Worcester.
We were running a little late thanks to a bit of heavy traffic near the M5 and several wrong turns on Worcestershire lanes, in order for Tony to practice his mini-bus reversing skills.

When we did arrive we were met by our guide and led out into the fields where the workers were busy harvesting the hops.

Farming Action Shot. 

We walked through several fields, past cider apples and on to different varieties of hops grown on shorter hop poles.  All in a fabulous bit of countryside, with the Malvern hills in the distance.  Stocks Farm is one of the largest hop farms in the UK, growing enough hops each year to make a staggering 46 million pints of beer.  The farm dates back around 200 years and has been owned and cared for by the Capper family since 1962.

They're generous enough to let visitors like ourselves tour the farm.  The next stage of that tour - and the hops journey - is the Hop Shed, where the 'Bruff' gets down to business.

This hunk of locally-made farming machinery discards all the unwanted bits of stalk and leaf and sends the hops on a series of conveyor belts towards this big tank of glorious green-hoppiness...

Despite being in close proximity to all the heavy machinery, no-one pressed any buttons they shouldn't; Charles' tie didn't get caught in any cogs or wheels; and I resisted the urge to climb into the tank above and wallow in the hops.

The final stages of the process take the hops into a kiln where they're carefully dried, before being packed into bales and distributed to breweries far and wide.

 

All this learning about hops was thirsty work and it was high time to go and sample some of the end product that they go into...

The Hop Shed Brewery Tap (Stocks Farm, Suckley, WR6 5EH - web)

Right next door to all the hop-harvest-action is this independently-run micro brewery and tap room.  They've been brewing since 2016, with a name change (from Unity Brewhouse) to Hop Shed in 2018.  The name reflects the fact that they're the only UK brewery located on a hop farm.
As this was once a chicken shed, all the beers are named after breeds of chickens.  Four to try on cask on this visit, which we diligently worked our way through - the 'Sultan Gold' probably being my favourite of the lot. 

Leaving the brewery and hop fields behind, we drove a short distance to the village of Knightwick, which had a promising looking pub for us to visit.

The Talbot (Bromyard Road, Knightwick, WR6 5PH - web)
The Talbot proved to be a pretty magnificent, sprawling, multi-roomed pub.  Great for the good weather, with a garden to the side complete with pigs and more seating just across the road next to the River Teme.

The Teme Valley Brewery beers are brewed just behind the pub, appropriately for our trip today, using local hops.  All three on the bar ('This', 'That' and 'T'other') were pale-golden ales - I'm not sure they needed three of such similar beers at the same time, other than the pump clips making for a good picture.

But this was undeniably a great village pub. There were lots of individual areas within, but I liked the basic bar-room to the right of the entrance, which had stone floors, dogs sprawling in prime positions to be tripped-over and a pool table on a raised section.

Driving back in the direction of Oxford, we broke our journey at Cotswolds tourist hot-spot: Broadway.

Crown & Trumpet (14 Church Street, Broadway, WR12 7AE - web)
The last time I was here, a couple of years back, it was super-busy and I didn't really get to appreciate the interior.  It has a proper pub carpet, wooden beams, brass instruments hanging from the walls and lots of old advertising signs.  Cluttered and characterful.

Two hand-pumps dispensed Stanway Brewery 'Artists Ale', a locally brewed 3.9% ABV golden ale, which was a pleasant enough pint.
A decent choice for cider enthusiasts, too, with three on offer as well as the Black Rat perry.

Making the most of the warm, sunny September afternoon, we took our drinks outside to the garden in front of the pub.  This was a peaceful and thoroughly relaxing spot...well, it was until we arrived.
All in all, a lovely day out - the hop farm proved to be a wonderful place to visit, topped off by the brewery tap room a couple of good pubs.  Cheers!