The Lamb Inn
Shipton under Wychwood, Oxfordshire
Peter Creed and Tom Noest know how to fancy-up a pub without ruining it. Rooted in the Cotswolds, they made a success of the Bell at Langford and in 2021 brought their winning formula to this picturesque 17th-century hostelry in a suitably opulent village. The conspicuously luxe element of the package is confined to the 10 letting rooms, while the restaurant and bar speak of old-fashioned country pubs, complete with bare floorboards, stone walls, venerable beams and, at weekends, a full house of rollicking, good-humoured locals drinking real ale. There’s also a terrace for summertime dining. The cooking is similarly unfussy and robust (chef Noest, still in his mid-20s, acknowledges a debt to Fergus Henderson). Notable skill is shown at the pizza oven – try sharing a ‘bite’ of garlic, bone marrow and parsley flatbread to start. Otherwise, a nose-to-tail dinner might begin with bouncy sweetbreads matched with crisp nuggets of bacon and leeks, followed by a dense and meaty faggot of local venison with swede and carrot mash – both dishes giving due gravity to the gravy. Lighter meals could feature creamy whipped cod’s roe (surrounding a pool of olive oil) with a gooey-yolked hard-boiled egg, ahead of on-the-bone brill with monk's beard. Seasonality is key here, so an early March pudding might celebrate rhubarb, perhaps topped with creamy cold custard beneath a generous portion of crunchy candied almonds. The wine list keeps up with trends (note the 'orange' selections), kicking off with a varied choice of house tipples by the glass. Service, too, is on the ball, even when things get busy. In all, an antidote to the pretension so prevalent in these parts.
