Tucked into the tiny village of Asthall, just off the road between Burford and Witney, The Three Horseshoes is the sort of pub you'd walk straight past if you didn't know it was there. That's part of its charm. Good local ales, seasonal food that doesn't try too hard, and a garden with one of the loveliest views in the valley.
There are plenty of pubs in the Cotswolds that have been styled to within an inch of their lives, all heritage paint and artfully mismatched chairs. The Three Horseshoes is not one of them. It's a proper village local that happens to serve very good food, with a menu that leans into whatever's in season: slow-cooked shoulder of lamb, fresh fish on Fridays, sticky toffee pudding that justifies the drive on its own. The ales rotate and the welcome is genuine, whether you're a regular or turning up muddy from a walk along the Windrush.
On a warm evening, take your pint out to the garden. The ground falls away to the south and you're left looking across open farmland toward the ridge, the kind of view that makes conversation trail off mid-sentence. It's about twenty minutes from the cottage, an easy run through Charlbury and down past the Wychwood. We find ourselves going back more often than we planned.
“The food is reliably good, the garden is spectacular, and nobody's trying to reinvent the wheel. Exactly what a country pub should be.”
All of this on the doorstep, and your own thatched cottage to come home to. Sleeps seven, less than a mile from Soho Farmhouse.