The Falkland Arms

Great Tew

The pub we always end up at

The Falkland Arms has stood on the edge of Great Tew's green since the sixteenth century, and it wears its age beautifully. The floors are worn flagstone, the ceilings are low and beamed, ceramic jugs and mugs hang from the timbers, and on cooler evenings the inglenook fire fills the room with the smell of woodsmoke. It belongs to Wadworth, the Devizes brewery, so there is always a proper pint of something well kept to be had, and the food follows the seasons rather than a printed formula. Step outside and you are in one of the prettiest estate villages in England: honey-coloured cottages under deep thatch, a church up the hill, and none of the coach-party crowds that swamp the bigger Cotswold names.

From the cottage it is barely a mile, five minutes in the car or a decent country walk if you fancy earning the first pint. That closeness is the whole point: it is the local we default to when nobody wants to think too hard about dinner, and it rarely lets us down. There is a low-ceilinged snug that fills up fast in winter, and in summer the tables out front and the garden behind catch the afternoon sun. It is the kind of pub where you drop in for one and leave rather later than planned, then amble back along the lane wondering why every village does not have one this good.

How we tend to use it

• The reward at the end of a walkGreat Tew sits on some of our favourite footpaths, so we often time a loop to finish here with a pint by the fire and muddy boots left at the door.
• An easy Sunday lunchWhen the kitchen at the cottage stays cold, this is the short drive we make: seasonal pub cooking, a decent roast when it is on, and no fuss about wet dogs or tired children.
• A slow afternoon on the greenOn a warm day we take a book and a cold drink to the benches out front and let the village do very little around us for an hour or two.
• Somewhere to send visitorsIf guests want the picture-postcard version of the Cotswolds, we point them straight here first: it delivers the thatch, the ale and the low beams in one go.

The village around it

Half the pleasure of the Falkland Arms is the walk in. Great Tew is a working estate village, its cottages held together as a single conservation area, and it looks much as it has for generations. It is worth arriving a little early to wander the lanes before you settle in, or lingering after lunch to climb to the church for the view back down over the roofs. If you want to make more of the setting, our guide to the Great Tew Estate covers the wider parkland, and the pub slots neatly into any of our walks from the door. The famous fields of Soho Farmhouse sit just along the road, a reminder that this quiet corner of Oxfordshire has quietly become one of the most sought-after in the country.

If it is full or you fancy a change

It is a small pub in a popular village, so on summer weekends it pays to book ahead or arrive early. When we want to spread our net a little wider there are some very good alternatives within a short drive: The Wild Rabbit in Kingham for something more polished, The Kingham Plough for confident country cooking, and The Chequers in Chipping Norton when we want the town's own living room of low beams and open fires. For the full lie of the land, our guide to eating and drinking in the area runs from village locals like this one to farm-to-table restaurants and everything between.

“Our closest proper pub, and honestly one of the best. A mile from the front door, a pint by the fire and jugs hanging off the beams. Hard to improve on that.”

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Also nearby

• The Great Tew Estate · Village · 2 min
• Soho Farmhouse · Members club · 5 min
• The Wild Rabbit · Pub · Kingham
• Walks from the Door · On foot