Oxford Villages Trip 2025 version

On a frighfully gloomy and wet November Saturday a group of Oxford folk comandeered a minibus to explore a half-dozen or-so village pubs to the west of the city.
I was on a similar excursion back in 2022 when we called into two of the inns on today's itinerary, but it was the pubs that were brand new to me this time around that I was most looking forward to.
Here's the route...

First stop: 11:57, Yarnton.
Where the young lady opening up took a glance out the window expecting the usual tranquil scene of village life only to spot 16 eager punters waiting for the door to be unlocked.

Red Lion (127 Cassington Road, Yarnton, OX5 1QD)
I visited this pub when it was first taken over by local chain Oak Taverns early in 2024.  Prior to that it had struggled for several years before being put up for sale by Admiral.
There has been a pub close to this site in Yarnton for several hundred years, the original demolished in 1957 when the current Red Lion was constructed.
It's open plan within: seats in the bay windows in the front, a freshly lit wood burner at one side, back doors in the rear section overlooking a lovely - but very wet - back garden.

On the bar three cask ales were on offer: Goffs 'Black Knight', Hook Norton 'Hooky', or Twisted Tree 'Trunk IPA', plus a stack of 8 boxed ciders to pick from.  
Tempting as those ciders may have been, the ABVs were very hard to see on the labels, so I stuck safe with the Bicester-brewed 'Trunk IPA'.  Not an IPA in my book of beer definitions...more a modern best bitter, but very drinkable and on top form.

Rounding up the group, we clambered back aboard the bus for the next leg of our journey.

🚍7 miles, Yanton > Stanton Harcourt
Journey time extended by the usual slow crawl of traffic on the A40.

Harcourt Arms (Main Road, Stanton Harcourt, OX29 5RJ)
My first impressions weren't particularly positive - we were definitely in the territory of rural Oxford gastro-pub with rooms.  It doesn't even look especially pub-like from outside.
Or on first glance to the right through the front door...

But the left-side room is gloriously stuck in time, dimly lit, with thick stone walls, fires burning at both ends giving an aroma of woodsmoke.  Squint and you can imagine the farming types settling here rather than posh car brigade out for Saturday lunch or the scruffy pub-tour brigade crowded around the pump clips.
Cask ales on offer were Purity 'UBU' and two from Norfolk's Woodford Brewery which don't make it this way very often: 'Nelson's Revenge' or 'Wherry'.  A dark and delicious Nelson's for me, priced at £5.20.
Taken straight to the prime sofa spot next to the wood burner.

Saying cheerio to the staff at the Harcourt Arms, we had a short journey down country lanes to our next destination.

🚍3.1 miles, Stanton Harcourt > Northmoor
Journey time extended by our driver Tony stopping in the middle of a country lane to buy homemade marmalade from a random table at the end of a cottage driveway.

We called into the Red Lion at Northmoor, somewhere I've visited a fair few times previously.
Cask ales available were from Fullers, Hook Norton or Cotswold Lion on this occasion - the wonderful 'Greedy Goose' for me as I accept the season for winter beer is truly upon us. 

The Red Lion was the busiest I've seen it - warm and welcoming in the bad weather, doing a roaring trade with a good mix of diners and drinkers.  Especially impressive being as the village is situated down single-track lanes, a fair way from any public transport routes.

The next pub was a revisit that I was thoroughly looking forward to.
Not least due to the possibility of 'grooming', which I would benefit from every now and again.

🚍7.5 miles, Northmoor > Bampton

Morris Clown (High Street, Bampton, OX18 2JW)
This early 18th century High Street pub used to the New Inn before taking on the unusual Morris Clown moniker in 1973.  Previously part of the Greene King estate it is now independtly owned and a quite fantastic no-nonsense wet-led boozer, which has become a regular in the Good Beer Gudie.

It's a single L-shaped room featuring some cracking murals on the wall.  No chance of playing bar billiards today, with the table acting as a stand for the TV showing Wales v New Zealand rugby action.

I ordered a pint of Butts 'Barbus Barbus' (£4.70 - the other cask ale option being Loose Cannon's 'Abingdon Bridge').  Last time I had this hoppy well-balanced session bitter it was brewed in the wilds of West Berkshire.  Butts have since closed their doors with this being one of their beers now concocted at Cheddar Ales.  And it was absolutely superb.
A great beer in a comfy, proper pub - best of the day, no contest - even the rugby couldn't dent my enthusiasm.

It was little more than a 5-minute hop to the next village where two pubs awaited.

🚍2.2 miles, Bampton > Clanfield

Uh-oh...we're back in gastro terriitory - no.4 on a recent Times Best Hotel Restaurants list no-less (the Ritz is sitting next to it at #3, for crying out loud).  Will they even let me in with my unruly beard, cargo pants and Dropkick Murphy's t-shirt?

Double Red Duke (Bourton Road, Clanfield, OX18 2RB)
This is a 17th century country house which later became an inn, run by Wadworth's Brewery for many years.  It's a rabbit warren of a place, with a host of vastly different rooms, sofas in small snugs, a cocktail bar counter, dining tables next to racks of wine bottles.  We settled on the tables in the main bar in a skylit extension towards the rear of the building.

There was a great selection of cask ales on the bar: Uley 'Pale Ale' or 'Pig's Ear', Hook Norton 'Hooky', and Ramsbury 'Deer Stalker'.  Served with chatty and knowledgeable enthusiasm by the fella at the bar who obviously cared about the beers on offer.

It's not often I see Cotswold brewery Uley, so I was chuffed to grab a pint of their crisp, bitter 'Pigs Ear'.  It was good - as it should be for the hefty £6.40 tarriff.

The Double Red Duke scores additional PropUptheBar points for their bespoke beermats.
And for the mysterious jars behind the bar.

 

But gets those points instantly deducted for having a cigar menu.

How much?!!!!

No need to get back on the bus this time with just a short dash across the road in the rain required for the next location.
🏃 83 yards, Double Red Duke > Mason's Arms

Mason's Arms (Bampton Road, Clanfield, OX18 2RG)
This was formerly the Clanfield Tavern (we're on a roll with pub name changes on this trip).  It was taken over by the same folks who run the Red Duke, the pre-1970 name was reclaimed, the interior refurbished and the pub reopened in October 2024.
It was pleasantly dark and moody when we stepped through the front door, so much so that the eyes to needed adjust to make out the Uley pump clips tucked away in the corner of the bar.
The stone walls are thick, the ceiling beams low, the wood fire burning.  It had a bit more of a boozy feel about it (or was that just because of our presence...) than the Red Duke, but beware - it's still smart and features on dozens of foodie websites. 

I went with the Uley 'Old Spot on this occasion - another cracking pint, although with it being a second 5% ABV beer in a row I was beginning to flag a bit.

We hopped back aboard the bus and made our journey down the dark lanes toward Oxford, with a pitstop at the Bruning and Price (not my preferred choice, but I have no voting rights).

🚍15.2 miles, Clanfield > Besselsleigh

Too wet and dark for an outdoor pub picture.
So I'll close the post with a photo of gentlefolk in the Greyhound.
Where I lurked in a corner sipping a Little Ox 'Hufflepuff' (we did have the brewer on the bus with us, so it seemed fitting to finish the trip with one of his beers).

Another great day out, visitng a wide selection of pubs and taking me to a couple of new places. 
Much appreciation goes out again to Tony for driving us through the rain.
Maybe one day I'll be sensible and realise I really don't need to call into the Lamb & Flag when we get dropped on St Giles...but not this time, of course.

The Red Lion at Yarnton

I'm keeping it local here, with a short trip on a wintry Saturday to the recently reopened Red Lion in the village of Yarnton.
Throughout the day we found lots of dogs, an argumentative customer, Bass disappointment, and a raucous Saturday evening crowd in the latest incarnation of the Grapes.

Yarnton is just a 4-mile rush-hour traffic jam away from central Oxford and home to around 2,750 folk.  I can't find anything remarkable to report about Yarnton - typing it into Google brought up the local garden centre in 6 of the top 7 search results.

So, let's head straight to the pub, which very nearly disappeared.

The Red Lion (127 Cassington Road, Yarnton, OX5 1QD)
We did a minibus tour of half a dozen Oak Taverns pubs back in October, completing the day at the Crown in Marcham.  At the time, The Crown had just become the 15th Oak Taverns pub - since then,The Red Lion has become the 16th.

The stories of both are remarkably similar.  The Red Lion was closed by Admiral Taverns in the summer of 2022, the future of a village pub looking very uncertain.  An attempt by the local community to buy it failed; then Oak Taverns stepped in, gave it a lick of paint, and opened it with their drinks-led, community pub focus. 

The cask range wasn't quite as impressive as those we found on our October trip.  Butcombe from Somerset, St Austell from Cornwall, XT from Buckinghamshire providing the local option.
We started on the cider, being dispensed from a box at the back of the bar in the picture above, before I returned to the bar for the XT '3' - a sessionable IPA on good form.

What was nice to see was that the Red Lion was doing a good Saturday afternoon trade, including families, ladies talking needle craft, and LOTS of dog walkers.  There was an impressive collection of muddy wellington boots by the door by the time we left.

I figured we should really check out the other pub on the edge of the village whilst in the vicinity.

The Turnpike Inn (2 Woodstock Road, Yarnton, OX5 1PJ)
These buildings were originally a set of roadside cottages which were converted into an inn called the Bunch of Grapes.  It picked up its current name when the road on which it stands became a toll booth controlled turnpike in 1719.

Entry is via the back door from the car park, leading into a small area by the bar which offers up a couple of tables for the casual drinker.

Our arrival coincided with a lady having an extended argument, waving the menu at the manager.  What it was about I have no idea, but it was long-winded.  I felt sorry for the husband, sat well out the way, then given cup of coffee and told to drink it quickly as we're leaving.
The manager had remained professionally calm, but pulled the Purity hand-pump more aggressively than necessary when I was eventually served my 'Mad Goose'.

Not a bad pint, to be fair (Doom Bar being the alternative).
The rest of this large place consists of tables very much set up for dining within the refurbished old rooms.  No photo's to remind me what it looked like but, for reasons now forgotten, I felt it important to get a record of the botanic wallpaper in the gents...

We hopped aboard the next Oxford-bound bus, alighting partway down Banbury Road.
Our destination was North Parade, which is one of Oxford's great little streets and contains two pubs - the consistently good Rose & Crown and the Gardeners Arms.

The Gardeners Arms (8 North Parade Avenue, Oxford, OX2 6LX)
It used to be a bit like a time-warp stepping into this place, a former Morrell's pub, opened in 1872.  The same tenants ran the Gardeners for 30 years before retiring in 2022.
Reopened in October '23, it is now being operated by the Morgan Pub Co.

And they delighted me with the rare - nay, unheard of - sight of Bass in Oxford city centre.

A short-lived delight, as it was way past it's best, murky with aroma of egg.
Our beers were changed with no fuss for the other cask option, Brew York's 'Calmer Chameleon', a session strength tropical pale ale.  But no substitute for the Bass.

This a narrow pub with some classic leather-padded bench seating in the front section, bar in the middle and a handful of tables to the rear.
Nice to have the evening Premier League match on TV for us to keep an eye on, although this is one of those pubs where there really isn't a suitable place to stick a large screen.  Only the departure of the folks on the high stools enabled me to see it.

We ordered veggie hot dogs then felt rather guilty that the one chap behind the bar seemed to be jack of all trades, whizzing upstairs to prepare our food, then back to man the bar.

Fed and watered, we just had time to call into the Grapes on George Street, also in the hands of the same pub company as the Gardeners Arms.

The Grapes (7 George Street, Oxford, OX1 2AT)
This is somewhere that has gone through a number of identities in recent years and spent some time closed.  But it seems to be back to it's best in the latest incarnation.

Okay, the high tables aren't going to be to everyone's taste and I'll probably fall off one of those stools one day.  But it's tastefully decorated with a plethora of pictures filling the wall opposite the bar, vinyl lined up next to a record player, a stack of board games, and big TVs now installed to show sporting fixtures.

And the choice of beer is superb - six hand pumps offering Harvey's 'Sussex Best' (my pick this time, an easy NBSS4) alongside five constantly changing guests.
Taps line the length of the bar back and offer Mrs PropUptheBar the chance to pick something sour and complain that it's too sour.

This proved a rewarding local day out.  With three of the pubs we'd visited having recently spent time closed it was super to see them open and doing a good job (that Bass excepted!).

Oak Taverns Tour

At the tail-end of September a group of folk from our Oxford CAMRA branch squeezed into a minibus to make a trip around six pubs in the local Oak Taverns chain.
And we even managed to fit in a heritage classic while we were at it.

We met outside the Lamb and Flag; battled Oxford traffic to get out of the City; picked up the rest of group in Abingdon; then were pulling up at the George in Sutton Courtenay just as the clock chimed midday.

Timed to perfection - we loitered for no more than 30 seconds before landlord Rodney unbolted the front door.

The George (4 Church Street, Sutton Courtenay, OX14 4NJ - web)
I first visited The George a year ago when it made its debut in the Good Beer Guide, so I'll brush over it here. 

The George has been in the Oak Taverns chain since December 2019.  It's an attractive two-roomed pub with wooden beams, fireplaces, stone floors and a deli section in the doorway.
The same two real ales were on offer as when I was here last time: a Loose Cannon 'Abingdon Bridge' and a most enjoyable Amwell Springs 'Rude Not To'.

With the first pub under our belts, we made the nine-mile journey to the Thames town of Wallingford.

The Cross Keys (48 High Street, Wallingford, OX10 0DB - web)
This is a pub transformed since my previous visit a couple of years ago.  Back then it was a little bit dingy and unwelcoming, serving up a pint of Brakspear in a near empty pub.

This time around it's buzzing with customers, full of character, and offering a great range of beers...
A house beer from XT, Tiny Rebel 'Cwych Gold', a Loose Cannon 'Never Gonna Give Brew Up', and Dead Brewer's Society 'LX Ale'. 
The Dead Brewers Society is an organisation that holds archives of original recipes and information required to recreate beers not seen for many years.
They've teamed up with Oak Taverns, with the beers then being brewed at XT.  The one on offer on this occasion was an 1888 recipe from the long-lost Shillingford Brewery of Bicester. 

I'm a sucker for these recreated ales, so of course I picked it and enjoyed it.
And I'm also a sucker for a Rick Astley pun, so I had a half of 'Never Gonna Give Brew Up' as well.

The Cross Keys was made up of four rooms - two either side of the front door, a smartly furnished rear lounge, and a snug up a couple of stairs from the bar. 
After a bit of exploration I settled in the snug with it's Bass clock and cabinet full of games.

Follow the Thames for 11 miles from Wallingford and you'll reach Whitchurch on Thames, right at the southernmost reaches of the county.

I did set foot in Whitchurch a decade ago on a riverside ramble, had a pint and brought a couple of bottles from a man in a shed from the now defunct Hen House Brewery.
So I thought I'd already been to today's target, the Greyhound, but it turns out my pint back then was in the (currently closed) Ferryboat, a little nearer the toll bridge.

Here's the Greyhound - picturesque if only you could edit the parked cars and pizza hut out of the photo.

The Greyhound (High Street, Whitchurch on Thames, RG8 7EL - web)
This pub was previously owned by Punch, prior to being brought and reopened by Oak Taverns in August of 2021.

It's actually quite smartly furnished within -  an L-Shaped main bar and small snug to the right of the front door.  Our group being 16-strong today, it took a while for everyone to get served - leaving me to have a wander looking for those subtle indicators of a good pub.

Aha!  Always trust somewhere with Van Goor's Anatomische Wandlatten hanging on the wall...

XT 'Four' and Timothy Taylor's 'Landlord' on cask, alongside two lesser-seen brews from Broadtown Brewery of Wootton Basset.
I went for a half each of the Broadtown beers - dangerous territory at 5.8% for the wheat beer and 6.2% for the Belgian dark.  But both quite delicious and a little bit special.

Next up - a deviation from the Oak Taverns theme, with the plan being to cross into Berkshire for a heritage gem which also happens to be a two-time National Pub of the Year.

Our journey was made that little bit trickier by the bridge at Goring being closed for roadworks, meaning we had to travel all the way back to Wallingford to cross the Thames.
This made for the longest trip between pubs and I was beginning to regret not popping to the WC in the Greyhound before departing
Straight into the outdoor gents in the Bell then - they come with a warning!

The Bell Inn (Aldworth, RG8 9SE)
The building dates back to the 15th century when it would have been a village manor house before becoming a pub.  It's now Grade II listed and in the National Heritage Pub inventory.

Step through the front door and there's a servery with sliding glass partitions, handwritten signs promoting the homemade rolls, and pump clips decorating the wooden walls.

Ales available were all local: Indigenous 'Baldrick', Arkells 'BB' and Amwell Springs 'Chairman Dave'.  But I went for the most local of the lot - the 'Five Giants' brewed 'round the back of the pub... 

The handled mugs seemed just right for the location - the beer an easy-drinking dark malty bitter which went down a treat.
Most folk gravitated outside in the warm weather, but I really wanted to soak up the historic interior - the two rooms featuring giant fireplaces, stone floors, a rocking chair, lots of black and white pictures on the wall, and a random collection of CAMRA magazines from far and wide, dropped off by the groups who make the trip to this marvelous pub.

Fourteen miles across the Berkshire Downs, through some picturesque countryside, we found ourselves in the familiar territory of Wantage.
There are enough pubs in this busy little market town to keep you content for a whole afternoon, but just the one for us today as we pulled up outside the chip shop and crossed the road into the Kings Arms.

The Kings Arms (39 Wallingford Street, Wantage, OX12 3AU - web)
Nice black and white frontage, minimalist sign, old Morland tile at pavement level - and a whopping great white shutter...who put that there?!

This was formerly a quite unremarkable Greene King pub.  Old Beer in the Evening reviews slated it as having 'lairy locals' and being a 'bit chavvy' before directing you across the road to the Shoulder of Mutton instead.
Then in 2018 Oak Taverns moved in and people started to say much nicer things about the Kings Arms..

 

There are basic seating areas either side of the front door, with a fireplace to warm drinkers in the winter months (and a pleasant garden out the back for the summertime).
The bar is in the middle of the pub where things get a little bit smarter with a polished wood floor and a Brunning and Price vibe to the decor.

The Kings Arms website tells us they aim to get "stuff you don't see at every pub" and they've certainly succeeded as far as pubs in the Vale of the White Horse are concerned.
Arbor 'ZZ Hop', Verdant 'Penpol Pale Ale', Red Willow 'Reckless', Thornbridge 'Artisan', and more of the Dead Brewers Society 'LX Ale',

Decent choices on the craft taps (although I wanted the ones advertised as 'coming next'), plus ciders from the box which helped this win the local CAMRA Cider Pub of the Year award.

I thoroughly enjoyed my hoppy pale Arbor ale in the Kings Arms before we moved onward to Faringdon.

The Swan (1 Park Road, Faringdon, SN7 7BP - web)
The Swan has a prominent spot looking out over a road junction and the baptist church.
The writing above the front windows still advertise it as being the home of the Faringdon Brewery, although the brew kit hasn't been used for a few years now.

The pub is split into two, with the bar in the front section and a more moodily-lit rear area down a couple of steps.
Plenty of people in for a Saturday teatime in a pub that doesn't do live sports or food.

The real ales available on our visit represented Oxon/Berks/Bucks: XT '4', Renegade 'Good Old Boy', Hook Norton 'Hooky', Little Ox 'Dark and Seedy' and White Horse 'The Don's Dark Ale'.  The Don's Dark is a lesser-seen White Horse beer - a malty, full-bodied trad bitter.

Which went down a treat with a curried egg - the £1 cost of which all went to charity, which is nice.  Just don't pay too much attention to the slimy gloop in the jar that the egg's fished out from.

Things you don't see everywhere: Dark beer, curried egg, and a CASH TRANSACTION!

Which left us with the daylight fading and just one pub remaining on the itinerary.  
Twelve and a half miles took us to the village of Marcham, just to the east of Abingdon, and famed for being the home of Denham College, founded by the Women's Institute.

And the recently reopened Crown...

The Crown (1 Packhorse Lane, Marcham, OX14 1NT)
This was previously a Morland pub, although it was more recently run by Admiral Taverns.
Their last appearance in the Good Beer Guide was in 2019 when it was listed as selling Bombardier, Doom Bar and Loose Cannon beers.

The pub closed midway through 2022 and almost became a community pub, except the application to run it as such was turned down by the local council.
The good news is that Oak Taverns stepped in, refurbished it, had a little difficulty with the 'n' on the pub sign, then opened the doors to the public on the 28th September.

We bowled in two days later, the whiff of fresh paint in the air, finding the place doing a roaring trade, most tables full and the drinks being served at a rate of knots.

And what's that on the bar?
There's an interloper amongst the local beers...

Take a wild guess if the XT '3' was being poured for me, or if I was waiting to order the Bass.
I do believe that's the first time I've seen Bass in Oxfordshire in the ten years I've lived here.

The lady who served me told me it had proved popular and they were considering making it a permanent ale.  Do it!

Bass in a newly reopened pub full of happy punters - a fine way to end what had been a grand day out.