An Oxford Village Pub Tour

On a bright and sunny Saturday, our Oxford CAMRA chairman commandeered the Witney Weaver minibus in order to ferry a group of us around some of the village pubs that are a bit tougher to get to on public transport.

The first stopping point was south of the city at Marsh Baldon, where we arrived at 11:50 and realised we were too early. The boldest member of the group was sent to knock on the door in the hope they'd open early, whilst I took a rubbish photo of the pub...

Seven Stars on the Green (The Green, Marsh Baldon, OX44 9LP - web)
Happily they did open early.  They were probably eager to get us served and on our way before we could upset the gentlefolk arriving for lunch.

I picked the house-badged beer (a Lakeland Brewhouse Blonde, renamed 'On the Green') - in decent condition, but rather on the dull side.
The Seven Stars is somewhere that gets great reviews for the food, but looking at it from a drinkers point of view it's not an especially comfy place to settle with a lunchtime pint.  We were stuck on some high stools and tables in the pub's mid-rift, everywhere else well and truly reserved and set-up for dining.  That said, come in warm weather and the garden is lovely.

Back onto the bus...
🚍 8.7 miles - Marsh Baldon to Littleworth

Cricketers Arms (38 Littleworth, OX33 1TR - web)
It's been a while since I've been to this pleasant village pub in Littleworth.  Previous visits have involved fairly long walks to get here for their sausage and beer festivals - always in the rain, so it's nice to see it basking in the sunshine for a change.
The chimney pot decoration is something you don't see every day...

 

The pub is quite small, as we managed to demonstrate by causing pedestrian congestion as the group bowled off the bus and squeezed along the bar to be served.  The locals looked bemused by our arrival and gave up watching Barnsley v Fulham on the tiny TV to laugh at their buddy who'd picked the wrong time to arrive; last in the queue for his pint of Fosters.
On the bar were two beers we don't see much in these parts: Woodford's 'Wherry' and a Bristol Beer Factory 'City of Love'.  The latter was a very nice dark ESB which would be a contender for beer of the day.

Amongst the art work on display in the gents, Superman was looking very...um...phallic...

We had a comfy seat in the window alcove with the sun shining in on us, enjoying the beer, with a 70's soundtrack ranging from Bowie to Boney-M.  As an added bonus two of the locals recognised Cloughy on my t-shirt and revealed themselves as Forest fans (yes, three of us in a small Oxfordshire village pub!), chatting football and leaving me in danger of missing the bus.

🚍 6.3 miles - Littleworth to Beckley

Abingdon Arms (High Street, Beckley, OX3 9UU - web)
I previously made it to this country pub in the summer of 2020, walking across the fields from the city, in post lock-down table-service times.

A favourite of authors Evelyn Waugh and Lewis Carroll, it's another of the counties community-owned pubs, having been sold to a group of share-holders in 2016.

Disappointing bookshelf, with the choice of a biography of Evelyn Waugh's early years or the Encyclopedia Britannica.  Hopefully the biography includes some tales of wild nights in the Abingdon Arms drinking an unwise quantity of Halls Brown Ale.

This is another popular dining spot, our group disturbing the tranquil atmosphere for the folk half way through their Saturday lunches.
We managed to find space in the extra room to the side where we wouldn't upset too many people.

I opted for the Vale best which was very good, with reports that the Little Ox 'Yabba Dabba Doo' was on top form too.

🚍 5.8 miles - Beckley to Kidlington

Kidlington is a much expanded Oxford-commuter hub just north of the ring road. The most prominent pubs here are the Red Lion, Black Bull and Black Horse, all of which are close together lining the main road. You have to delve into the side streets to an older part of the village to find the Kings Arms...

The Kings Arms, with our bus parked outside. You know the cool kids are arriving when this mobile pulls up outside the pub!

The Kings Arms (4 The Moors, Kidlington, OX5 2AJ)
Dating back to 1815, the Kings Arms has two similarly sized rooms either side of the front door.  An older thatched building to the left houses the gents WC and the courtyard between has a function room at the far end where Oxfordshire game Aunt Sally is played - unusual as this is normally an outdoor game.

I like a pub with a well stocked bookshelf.  Mrs PropUptheBar picked up the 'Are You a Grumpy Old Git Quiz Book'. (Yes I am and I don't need a quiz book to confirm it). 

I was content checking out what was in the beer guide 20 years ago...

As with the Cricketers earlier, the beers offered up something a little different from the usual in our neck of the woods: from Cheshire, Weetwood 'Eastgate' amber ale, from Suffolk, Mauldon's 'Rampant Ruby'.  We settled in the lounge for some good simple pub grub, which gave me the chance to try both the beers.

Happily fed and watered we were moving on to a couple more community-owned pubs.   
🚍 4.3 miles - Kidlington to Bladon

White Horse (1 Grove Road, Bladon, OX20 1RQ - web)
Winston Churchill, who famously modeled himself on Boris Johnson, was born in nearby Blenheim Palace and is buried in the graveyard at Bladon's St Martin's Church.
The pub has a portrait of Churchill gazing over proceedings from above the fireplace in the 'drinkers' bit of the pub.  That section was reserved on this visit for the local rugby fans, leaving us to settle at the other end away from the TV.

Two hand pulls on the bar dispensed a choice of dark or light - Luna 'Dark Star', a black session IPA or a Stardust 'Easy Pale'.

The afternoon was racing past.  The Chairman kept checking his watch and complaining we were behind schedule.  Time to move on...

🚍 10.7 miles - Bladon to Northmoor

Red Lion (Standlake Road, Northmoor, OX29 5SX - web)
This is a charming village pub, off the beaten track down a country lane in the small village of Northmoor.  It's in a peaceful location (until we turned up).
Previously a Greene King pub, it was brought by the locals in 2014.  It's got thick stone walls ensuring no phone signal, a fire burning at one end of the dimly lit room; atmospheric and comfortable.  

Here's the beers - Cotswold Lion 'Shepherd's Delight' for me, please.

Leaving the Red Lion we had one final leg of the journey to make, as the blue skies turned dusky.
🚍 7.3 miles - Northmoor to Bampton

The Morris Clown (High Street, Bampton, OX18 2JW)
This was my only new pub of the day and it was too dark outside to get a picture; too busy with a rugby crowd inside to take any decent interior shots.

Several of our party knew the gaffer, who hopped off his stool on the customer side of the bar to greet us.  "You pick your times!" he said, "I'm just back off my holidays, then you lot arrive with a coach-load half way through the rugby".

Grabbing a North Cotswold Brewery 'Green Man IPA' (the alternative being more of the Luna black IPA) we retreated around the corner away from the TV. 

The pub started life in 1811 as the George, then became the New Inn ten years later, despite not being new any more.  In 1975, whilst it was a Courage pub, the name was changed to the Morris Clown, frustrating Morris dancing folk for its factual inaccuracy, as they have fools, not clowns.

The Moulin Rouge murals on the walls surrounding us were unusual for a village pub and were painted many years ago by the one of the owner's family members.

And that brought our excursions around Oxfordshire to a close.  We jumped aboard the Witney Weaver bus for the final time to make the journey back home.
It had been a good day out - seven pubs, ranging from gastro-territory to local wet-led boozers, well-kept beers in one and all. 

Now I just need to team up with the North Oxfordshire CAMRA branch and and get myself on one of their minibus tours to reach those Hook Norton pubs that are eluding me.