Two Micro's, a Red Lion & a Black Horse in West Oxfordshire

It's about time I featured some local Oxfordshire drinking establishments.
So we set out on a Saturday morning with three destinations in mind in the West of the county.  The first was a pub that's not the easiest to get to and has eluded me for some time, the Red Lion in Northmoor.

To get there, we caught a bus out to Witney, then changed onto the number 19 service which runs through the nearby villages every two hours.
Alighting at Standlake, I made the quick discovery that tons of rain = flooded footpaths.  So we had to make do with a 1-mile traipse down the road to Northmoor.

The Red Lion (Standlake Road, Northmoor, OX29 5SX - web)
This village pub is owned by the local community, after Greene King failed to find tenants and put it up for sale in 2013.
Opening generously early at 11am on Saturday, we were the first customers in, but it gradually filled up with walkers in wellies popping in for a drink, a few diners, and a couple of locals perching on stools at the bar.

The beer range was local with Loose Cannon 'Abingdon Bridge', 'Old Hooky' and Brill 'Gold' on offer on this visit.  For what must have been the first pints served of the day, all were in great, tasty condition, which I guess is why the Red Lion keeps getting into the Beer Guide.

We stayed here long enough to have some food, from a menu of dishes all home-cooked using local produce.
This is a lovely old pub, with log fires burning, superb customer service and great ales.  Well worth making the effort to get to.

We walked back up to Standlake, where we'd spotted there was a pub, if time permitted, before the bus to Witney arrived.
Time didn't really permit, but I needed to make use of the WC's, so we dived in for a hasty half.

Black Horse (High Street, Standlake, OX29 7RH - web)
I'm sure this old country pub, which dates back to 1761, was once a brilliant rustic village local.  But it's marked as 'Gastropub' on the map, so we kinda knew what to expect.
The framed reading material in the Gents was a 2-page Jeremy Clarkson review of the Porsche Carrera.  Which says it all really.
Nice half of Goff's 'Cheltenham Gold' though, even if it was quaffed super-fast in order to race across the road and catch the bus.

Lookin' gloomy over the Black Horse, Standlake

Back in Witney, with only one pub-visit planned, our choice was the towns micro-pub.

Oxbrew (8 Langdale Court, Witney, OX28 6FG - web)
Opened in August 2018 in a unit that previously housed a charity shop, Oxbrew became Witney's first micro-pub.  With seating for around 30 folk inside and more outdoors, the pub is run by the brewery of the same name. 
Perusing the options on the bar, this was my first sighting of new Burford brewery Elements, whose 'Tropical Daze' was a satisfying fruity pale ale with bitter finish.

On cask was a delicious White Horse 'Luna Apollo 10' and Oxbrew's own, wonderful, 'Dark and Seedy' - what a line-up!

Despite a plethora of pubs in Witney, Oxbrew had drawn a good Saturday afternoon crowd and is an essential stop if you're passing this way.

We jumped back on the S1 bus, headed to the end of the line, Carterton.

I Googled 'what's it like to live in Carterton?
Howie Berry says "Absolute shit hole, needs knocking down and re doing."  But it does get a lot of praise for having ample good supermarkets.
Whilst a Ms Woodcock suggests "you get the odd twat but you do everywhere! Much prefer Carterton than Witney that's for sure."

Here's Trip Advisor's Top Attraction:

So, realistically, the only thing that's gonna bring me here is the Good Beer Guide entry.
Or Morrison's.

The Siege of Orleans (5 The Giles Centre, Alvescot Road, Carterton, OX18 3DH)
It's not the most photogenic micro-pub that I've ever encountered.
But it must be a delight for the ale and craft beer loving residents of Carterton to have this small bar with a respectable choice of beers.
There were a couple of brews from Ramsbury Brewery on offer, from which I picked a pint of light and refreshing 'Hopper'.
Amongst the keg lines were Siren and Wild Weather beers.

We had to scoot back to Oxford to meet friends in the Tap Social, hence just the one stop in Witney and no intrepid exploring of Carterton's other two boozers.
I was going to write about Tap Social, but everything became a bit of a blur from that point on...