Opening at 3 pm, the Queen’s Arms is not a good choice for a lunch run but the last day before a vacation when you decide to bag the afternoon worth of work for a run it is a good enough choice to have an early IPA. Not far from the Didcot Station and the [...]

Leaving the Romany to return the way I ran out, I got about ten steps toward Buckland before the magnetic force of another bar pulled me in.  It was the grand, old Talbot Hotel, this time, all exposed stone and timber within and on this day sunny spring weather without: Bampton seems an alright little [...]

The Morris Clown was closed, but Bampton, for such a small town, surprises you with four lively pubs…I ducked into the Romany Inn because traffic kept me from crossing over to the Horse Shoe (which, it turned out, was closed until later anyway).  The pump clips were turned away but it looked like they might [...]

What a gorgeous day for a run.  Starting in Buckland with Bampton as my turnaround point I was lucky enough to catch the Trout still tending a lunch table (they spent £212.80 on four lunches, and were ordering more drinks when I left); normally the place would have closed mid-afternoon until early evening.  The hostess [...]

I was truly floating after four pub stops on this, at this point, 7 mile run (it eventually made it to 10.1 miles).  Traffic was picking up going into the Bank Holiday weekend and I stopped for one more breather at the Swan Hotel on the Thames.  Catching my breath after the sprint from Clanfield [...]

I had originally waved off the Plough because I didn’t know it was even in Clanfield (I was running through with the Clanfield Tavern in my sights) and because it seemed obvious they were catering a function (which turned out to be a wedding) with a BBQ smoking away outside and some of the guests [...]

I trundled into Clanfield and spotted the Plough on my right but it looked like they were catering and I was really looking for the Clanfield Tavern across the road on my left, anyway. The Tavern is a very friendly 17th century inn that has actually operated as an inn continuously throughout its existence (a [...]

Just below RAF Brize Norton you run into the village (more of a hamlet, but the pub and church make it technically a village) of Black Bourton with its little ale house, The Vines (although it is more of a restaurant than a pub…more technicalities).  The host seemed technically friendly but there was an actual frostiness [...]

Caught the bus from work to Carterton to do a run to Faringdon where I could catch the bus home.  I’ve only been to one pub here before (The Aviator, before a run to Witney) so decided to pop in The Beehive mostly because it was the first one I came across.  A large but [...]

The rain pissed down before I was out of Sunningwell and my planned shortcut to the quite marvelous Prince of Wales ran into the fence at an old RAF base.  I trudged along eventually finding my target. The pub has a larger lounge but only the Public Bar was in use and so I was [...]