Monday, June 21, 2010

Kings Head, Oxfordshire: Hotel Guru

By Fiona Duncan Published: 12:40PM GMT twenty-three February 2010

Previous of Images Next King The King"s Head is set on an unspoilt encampment immature with swings for the young kids and a�stream for the ducks King The bedrooms are artfully flashy with junk-shop finds, embellished furniture, the peculiar family heirloom, books and pictures, flattering fabrics and rugs King So majority old inns have the impression ripped out of them when they are revamped, but not this one

It"s easy to see what tempted Nicola and Archie Orr-Ewing (known to all as Nic and Arch) afar from London and in to the wilds of the Labrador-and-Range Rover-infested Cotswolds. Casting around for a mental condition beer hall to run, they found the King"s Head, set on an unspoilt encampment immature with swings for the children, a tide for the ducks and a comic old beer hall pointer moving in the breeze. "It was the initial place we saw, all pinkish and frilly inside. We only knew we could have something of it."

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They majority positively have. Nicola"s bedrooms 6 on top of the low-slung beer hall and 6 opposite a flattering yard are only the sort I love: elementary and unpretentious, nonetheless artfully flashy with junk-shop finds, embellished furniture, the peculiar family heirloom, books and pictures, flattering fabrics, rugs, Lloyd Loom chairs and comforting throws on excellent, white-linen beds. Bathrooms are indispensably small, but attractive.

We had a integrate of teenager gripes. The televisions in the beer hall bedrooms could do with upgrading, the tea trays are meagre, and where, oh where is a radio? Even a ask to steal one by my crony Lui, raging to attend to The Archers, could not be met. At slightest keep a integrate of spares: there contingency be some-more Radio 4 freaks similar to us out there, generally in these parts.

The King"s Head wasn"t for sale when the Orr-Ewings initial saw it, but the owners sole it anyway. "Over to you now," they said, as they left the club for the last time. "Don"t worry," pronounced the old boy, a encampment ancient and King"s Head unchanging for 40 years, who was propping up the bar, "I"ll still be here."

As in so majority of these former internal watering holes, the customers of the King"s Head is right away here predominantly for the restaurant-quality food from cook Charlie Loader. Though majority of them see as if they"ve come true from the pages of Debrett"s, Archie has finished what he can to keep the pub"s firmness alive, using a cricket group whose members contingency possibly splash or work in the pub. There"s additionally darts and a unchanging ask night.

So majority old inns have the impression ripped out of them when they are revamped, but not this one. The warren of bedrooms encircling the executive club are all cosy, with home-grown hyacinths scenting the air. (Why don"t some-more hoteliers realize that simple, uninformed flowering plants are sorcery ingredients?) Every in. of space is since over to dining because, at weekends especially, as majority tables as probable are required.

That leaves a complaint for the augmenting numbers of people who are branch to cheap places similar to the King"s Head as alternatives to nation residence hotels: where to wave absolutely nearby a glow with a splash and a newspaper? Nicola took the point and tells me that a dilemma room will shortly turn a "sitting room where you can eat". I see brazen to saying it and the peculiar radio: afterwards the King"s Head will be perfect.

The Green, Bledington (01608 658365; kingsheadinn.net). Doubles from �80 per night, together with breakfast. Access probable for guest with disabilities

How it rates (out of five)

ROOMS TTTT

Pub bedrooms have some-more character; all are charmingly flashy

SERVICE TTTTT

A accessible acquire from Arch and Nic; local, happy staff

CHARACTER TTTT

Revamped pubs mostly miss character; this one has plenty, if as well majority tables

FOOD & DRINK TTTT

First-class beer hall food; Archie"s uncle"s locally reared beef is a speciality

VALUE FOR MONEY TTTTT

Quibbles aside; decent