Kingham is one of those villages that feels like it shouldn't exist: a proper green, a railway station, and a gastropub good enough to draw people from miles around. The Kingham Plough sits right at its heart, and it's the kind of place where you settle in for the evening without meaning to.
What makes The Kingham Plough worth the short drive from Ledwell is the care that runs through everything. The menu changes with the seasons, leaning heavily on local suppliers and whatever the kitchen garden is producing that week. There's a confidence to the cooking: dishes are built around good British ingredients, treated simply but with real skill. A pressed ham hock terrine, say, or a slow-cooked lamb shoulder that falls apart at the suggestion of a fork. The wine list is thoughtful without being showy, and the staff have a knack for making you feel looked after without hovering.
The building itself is a handsome old stone pub with low beams, a fireplace you'll gravitate towards in winter, and a garden that earns its keep in summer. It manages to feel both polished and genuinely relaxed, which is harder to pull off than it sounds. Book ahead for Friday or Saturday dinner; for a quieter midweek lunch, you can often walk in. Either way, you'll leave thinking about your next visit.
“Where we go when we want dinner to feel like an event. The food is consistently excellent, the room is lovely, and it's close enough that you're back at the cottage before the fire goes out.”
All of this on the doorstep, and your own thatched cottage to come home to. Sleeps seven, less than a mile from Soho Farmhouse.