Lower Oddington Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: In an attractive Cotswolds Hamlet, this ivy-covered sixteenth-century pub has been included in our guide for many years as somewhere that’s a cut above, with lovely courtyard garden, real ales and superior grub. With its 80 inside seats and 40 on the terrace, it was taken over in mid-2021 and given a refurb by Lady Carole Bamford, owner of nearby Daylesford Organic. Too few reports for a rating, but very early feedback says it’s “happily survived Covid and good all-round”.

Lady Bamford (wife of JCB heir, Anthony Bamford) opened this chic farm shop and café near the family’s 1,500 acre Cotswold estate about twenty years ago (and later on, spin offs in London). Fans love it, declaring: “it may have a reputation for being pricey, but the interiors are great and the food is just not as expensive as you might expect, given the exquisite perfection of the place”. Critics can’t get over the lack of value though: “the popularity is undeserved: it is just an out-and-out very expensive tourist trap”.

The “great food and amazing service” are everything you would expect at this deluxe Cotswolds gastropub handy for the Chipping Norton set and owned by Lady Bamford, chatelaine of Daylesford Organic (which supplies much of the produce) and hostess of BoJo’s post-prime ministerial wedding bash. It all comes, of course, “at a fairly significant price”. Sam Bowser, the latest chef to head the kitchen, did a stint as the Bamfords’ private chef a few years back.

This “great Cotswolds gastropub” is a well-known watering-hole near Chipping Norton, with “excellent, hearty and delicious cooking”, “majoring in wood-fired dishes” including scallops in the half shell, iceberg lettuce, giant tiger prawns, gurnard fillets and Barnsley chop. Matt & Katie Beamish took over from GBM winner Emily Watkins a couple of years ago.

“Excellent seafood in the unlikely named Old Butchers” is the calling card of Pete & Louise Robinson’s long standing Stow venue, most of it delivered from Cornwall. “All the food served is of a very high standard” – even if arguably “the simple ambience doesn’t match the cooking”.

This 350-year-old, Cotswold-stone former malthouse makes a “great setting” for a “smallish but very enjoyable menu”. These days it’s “more of an upmarket restaurant than a pub” under chef Matt Weedon (ex-Lords of the Manor and Glenapp Castle) – “and the prices reflect this”, starting at £29 for the wagyu burger, with a 6-course tasting menu at £80.

“The dining room is a lovely room… the service is attentive… the food is interesting and very good” – this gorgeously located manor house hotel (part of the Brownsword group) receives nothing but praise in our annual diners’ poll, including for Nick Chappell’s accomplished three-course menu.

2022 Review: “High-quality service and food” are on the menu at this famous Cotswolds hotel – a sumptuous seventeenth-century former aristocratic vicarage in honey-coloured local stone. In his first appointment as head chef, Charles Smith, who has a stint at New York’s Per Se on his impressive CV, has launched the new Atrium dining space (see also); more relaxed meals are available in the Dining Room.

2022 Review: Limited but upbeat feedback on this relatively recent (2019) addition to the well-known Cotswolds manor house, with Charles Smith delivering a nine-course tasting menu for £95. Fans do say it’s “wonderful”, but we have to leave a rating till we have a few more reports.

“A fantastic option in this Cotswolds village” that’s part of an old inn (with rooms) in the heart of the town that was given an attractive refit a couple of years ago. Despite some pub associations, the food is very much restaurant fare from a two-course or three-course menu.