THE KING’S HEAD, OXFORDSHIRE
It’s easy to see what tempted Nicola and Archie Orr-Ewing (known to all as Nic and Arch) away from London and into the wilds of the Labrador-and-Range Rover-infested Cotswolds. Casting around for a dream pub to run, they found the King’s Head, set on an unspoilt village green with swings for the children, a stream for the sicks and an old pub sign swaying in the breeze. “We just knew we could make something of it.”

They most certainly have. Nicola’s bedrooms – six above the low-slung pub and six across a pretty courtyard – are just the sort I love: simple and unpretentious, yet artfully decorated with junk-shop finds, painted furniture, the odd family heirloom, books and pictures, pretty fabrics, rugs, Lloyd Loom chairs and comforting throws on excellent, white-linen beds. Bathrooms are necessarily small, but attractive.

We had a few minor gripes. The televisions in the pub rooms could do with upgrading, the tea trays are meagre, and where, oh where is a radio? Even a request to borrow one by my friend Lui, frantic to listen to The Archers, could not be met. At least keep a couple of spares: there must be more Radio 4 freaks like us out there, especially in these parts.

The King’s Head wasn’t for sale when the Orr-Ewings first saw it, but the owners sold it anyway. “Over to you now,” they said, as they left the bar for the last time. “Don’t worry,” said the old boy, a village inhabitant and King’s Head regular for 40 years, who was propping up the bar, “I’ll still be here.”

As in so many of these former local watering holes, the clientele of the King’s Head is now here principally for the restaurant-quality food from Chef Andy Kilburn. Though most of them look as if they’ve come straight from the pages of Debrett’s, Archie has done what he can to keep the pub’s integrity alive, running a cricket team whose members must either drink or work in the pub.

So many old inns have the character ripped out of then when they are revamped, but not this one. The warren of rooms circling the central bar are all cosy, with home-grown hyacinths scenting the air. (Why don’t more hoteliers realise that simple, fresh flowers are magic ingredients?) Every inch of space is given over to dining because, at weekends especially, as many tables as possible are required.

That leaves a problem for the increasing numbers of people who are turning to inexpensive places like the King’s Head as alternatives to country house hotels: where to flop comfortably near a fire with a drink and a newspaper? Nicola took the point and tells me that a corner room will soon become a “sitting room where you can eat”. I look forward to seeing it – and the odd radio: then the King’s Head will be perfect.

HOW IT RATES

ROOMS: Rating: 5 Stars
Pub rooms have more character; all are charmingly decorated

SERVICE: Rating: 4.5 Stars
A friendly welcome from Arch and Nic; local, happy staff

CHARACTER: Rating: 4.5 Stars
Revamped pubs often lack character; this one has plenty, if too many tables

FOOD & DRINK: Rating: 4.5 Stars

VALUE FOR MONEY: Rating: 5 Stars
Quibbles aside, unimpeachable
The Sunday Telegraph, 28/02/2010

So if you have friends who are looking to visit the Cotswolds for accommodation or you are looking to find a restaurant for an evening meal or pub lunch.

The Kings Head, at Bledington near Stow on the Wold, has made it into the Tatler Restaurant Guide 2011.

The 16th century village green hostelry, run by Archie and Nicola Orr-Ewing for 11 years, is only one of 11 out-of-London Restaurants.

It rubs shoulder with the likes of gastronomic giants including Le Manoir Aux Quat Salsons, near Oxford and The Bath Priory. Tatler dubs the Inn as “picture-postcard perfect” underlining its “legendary status in the Cotswolds” and “fantastically chic rooms”.

Mentioning its great food, wine list and real ales it adds: “It’s hard to beat a glass (or bottle) of Laurent-Perrier in front of the log fire on a cold winter day”.
Delighted Nicola said: “We try to hold our own. There’s a lot of attention to detail – we have good quality , affordable food, freindly staff and a great ambience.”

Article from the Gloucestershire Echo June 8th 2011

With many local attractions there is plenty to see and do whilst using the Kings Head as your base tour of the Cotswolds.

Near to the train station at Kingham we are easily accessed with the train route directly coming from London Paddington. If you do not have your own transport a taxi can be easily arranged for the 5 minute drive from the station.

The summer is so scenic in Bledington with our Bantams and the Bledington ducks adding an extra distraction for your perfect holiday vacation.

Here is a video of The Kings Head Inn
 Titled Stow on the Wold Hotels

The hotel? Right on the border between Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, this former 16th century cider house, set on a perfect Cotswold village green, performs three functions with equal aplomb – country hotel, quality restaurant and thriving, gossip-soaked local pub.

Two years ago, Archie Orr-Ewing abandoned his tenure of the North Pole gastropub in west London, and wife Nicola left her flourishing hat-design business, to take over the pumps here. They took a while to establish themselves, but now the King’s Head is at the head of a very competitive local pack. Nicola’s dedication to graceful design in the dining areas and bedrooms blends perfectly with Archie’s commitment to running “a pub with rooms”. This place welcomes regulars and darts matches just as gladly as weekenders and wedding guests. Oh, and there’s the beef.

What’s the beef? Steaks, of course, which are renowned throughout the land. They’re hung for 10 days and sourced from the Aberdeen Angus herd on Archie’s uncle’s farm just down the road.

(do you really want the rest about all other places?)

It all sounds lovely – I’ll pack the car. Steady on – Bledington is less than a mile from Kingham railway station, which is 26 minutes from Oxford and just 80 minutes from Paddington.

Well, how do we get around then? Scenic Cycles (07940340939) will actually deliver mountain bikes to the King’s Head, for £15 a day, or £25 for the weekend. If you can leave the car behind, the Cotswolds will thank you for it.

What should I bring? Walking boots, a sociable nature and an empty stomach.

What shouldn’t I bring? Effete politically correct, Chardonnay-drinking-in-Islington opinions.

August 4, 2002 – The Sunday Times

This week: The King’s Head Inn, Bledington

I have no scientific or statistical proof, but, on the evidence of my own eyes, I believe that the blows barmaid is, like the spotted flycatcher, corn bunting and skylark, one of a vanishing species of British birds.

Once, she was to be found fluttering behind every saloon bar in the shires, her cleavage puffed prominently as she dished up keg and consolation beneath a plume of peroxide and mascara. Nowadays, a toff with a polite cough seems to be the obligatory replacement for the pint-pulling tart-with-a-heart in our newly renovated backwoodsmen’s boozers.

Nowhere is this more true than on the Oxfordshire/Gloucestershire border, where Archire Orr-Ewing, the impossibly good-looking landlord of the King’s Head Inn, can be found holding forth on the merits or otherwise of his Australian Shiraz and Hook Norton bitter. Meanwhile, his elegant wife, Nicola, tends to fuss about the sun-blushed tomatoes and saffron boullion, rather than spooning on the blusher and listening to regulars crying into their beer.

The picturesque 16th-century stone-built free house overlooks the village green, with its babbling brook and noisy ducks. At Sunday lunch last week, the inside of the very low-ceilinged flagstone bar, with its fine settles and polished brass bed-plates from disbanded regiments, was full of very tall people in canary-coloured cords braying for pints of Hooky and spicy Bloody Mary’s.

By one o’clock, the Orr-Ewings were running a sit-down Sunday lunch as if it were a private party. The roast beef was rare and hot. The Yorkshire pudding was home-made, the horseradish was freshly mixed and the roast potatoes were crunchy and, rather charmingly, a bit burnt. The volume of conversation never flagged and the Orr-Ewings never stopped.

Only when the rush was over did I notice the Gucci-clad Sloane tanked up on New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc leaning dreamily against the bar trying to engage the stoic young Archie, much as a caricature drunk might have once accosted a traditional barmaid. It may of course have been my imagination, but I swear I heard her whisper: “My husband doesn’t understand me.”

Adam Edwards
TELEGRAPH WEEKEND
Saturday , February 21, 2004

The Kings Head Inn, Bledington, Oxfordshire

People (and dogs) flock to the Kings Head, possibly the cosiest English pub there is, just a stones throw from Stow-on-the-Wold. Villagers tumble in as they pass, and townies roll up in their ‘authentically’ mud-splattered Land Rovers. Far from being chintzy, owners Archie and Nicola Orr-Ewing have given the 16th-century stone inn a stylish revamp. Above the convivial bar are six wonky rooms, decorated with simple country elegance; the further six rooms in the courtyard are more modern. Books are piled everywhere, low-lit lamps give a cosy glow, there is a big fire and a quirky mix of high-backed settles, little stools and heavy wooden armchairs pulled up to chunky tables. Don’t be fooled, though. This is no banger-and-mash pub: it serves first-class food, which, alone, is worth the trip

The Quartely – The Expert’s Guide To Good Living – Winter 2006

Then you can enjoy some serenity at these wonderful pubs with rooms and great food within two hours’ drive of London.

Elegantly simple: The King’s Head, in Bledington, Oxfordshire, has been modernised without losing its original country charm.

On arriving at this 15th century inn, I fancied kicking off my wellies and joining the locals at the bar to natter about the rise of the river’s water level. Or twiddling my toes in front of the fire and dozing in my chair with a muddy dog I had befriended snuffling about me. It’s that inviting – a real flagstone-and-flat-cap joy.

Instead, I was shown to my room for a welcome soak in a deep bath to rid myself of stresses of city life.

Later, villagers tumbled into the bar – having walked the dark blustery lanes or rolled up in mud-splattered Land Rovers – to drink the local ale (Hook Norton) and banter with the jolly barman, or flirt with the pretty waitress.

Taken over in 2000 by Archie and Nicola Orr-Ewing, the luxury Cotswold inn has been cleverly converted from chintz to elegant simplicity. Everything you could possibly need is neatly provided, from the bottles of mineral water to a hairdryer. The bed linen is crisp and luxurious, while the beds themselves are impossibly comfortable. Scrumptious-smelling bath plonk and fluffy white towels fill the bathrooms.

The six charmingly wonky ensuite rooms above the pub vary in size – beware the low beams. The corridors are so peculiarly shaped that guests must simultaneously bend, duck and lean to get around. The contortions are worth it, though, especially if you are staying in Room One, which has a glorious four-poster draped in sumptuous fabrics.

The Orr-Ewings have stylishly modernised the building while maintaining its character and the attention to detail is impressive. A further six rooms in the modern Courtyard wing are larger and quieter but have less character.

Eat in the bar area with its high-backed settles, little stools and heavy wooden armchairs at chunky tables. An old piano pines for a thigh-slapping, tankard-clinking sing-along.

The restaurant menu includes locally sourced fresh seasonal produce.

For a pub there is a comprehensive wine list – handily, Nicola Orr-Ewing is the goddaughter of wine writer Hugh Johnson. The Oxfordshire Way runs past the back door so a good walk is obligatory!

Evening Standard / estravel 4th February 2005

This 16th-century former cider house claims an idyllic spot by the village green, Owner Archie and Nicola Orr-Ewing have restored the inn to create 12 rooms with individual character. We sample the seasonal menu, including Aberdeen Angus beef from a herd just 3 miles away, while warming ourselves by the fire in the bar. Breakfast, too, has something to please all, from fresh fruitto full English. Rooms from £90.

Country Living Magazine – March 2011

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