The Trout
A riverside pub on the Thames at Wolvercote, its stone terrace overlooking the weir with the water rushing past.
A riverside pub on the Thames at Wolvercote, its stone terrace overlooking the weir with the water rushing past.
Some pubs you visit for the food, some for the beer, and a few just for the setting. The Trout is firmly in the last camp. It sits on Godstow Road in Lower Wolvercote, a low old inn pressed right against the bank of the Thames where the river narrows into a rush of white water over the weir. The building has stood here for centuries, and the moment you carry a drink out to the terrace and hear the water going underneath, you understand why Oxford quietly keeps it for showing off to visitors. We tend to drive over on the sort of bright, aimless afternoon that doesn't need a plan, and we rarely leave when we meant to.
The peacocks are the other reason to come. They roam the grounds with the confidence of regulars, and the children spend as long chasing (and being chased by) them as they do eating. Keep half an eye out for Krug, the resident bird who has an instinct for the exact moment your chips arrive. The stone terrace looks straight onto the river, a little bridge crosses to a private garden on the far bank, and on a warm day the whole place has the feel of somewhere you've stumbled into by luck rather than driven to on purpose.
It was refurbished a few years back and now reads as a smart gastropub rather than a rough-and-ready boozer, but the riverside soul is intact. The kitchen runs to honest pub cooking done properly, and it's the kind of menu that suits a mixed table of adults and hungry children.
The classic thing to do is stretch the visit with a walk along the towpath to the ruins of Godstow Abbey, a gentle ten minutes downriver. The abbey is where Fair Rosamund, Henry II's mistress, is said to have been buried, and the crumbling walls in a meadow by the water are genuinely atmospheric. It turns a drink into a proper afternoon: a stroll out, the ruins, and the pub waiting when you get back. Fans of Inspector Morse and Lewis will recognise The Trout too, since the terrace has stood in as a backdrop more times than most working pubs.
The Trout sits just north of the city, so it pairs neatly with a morning in Oxford proper. Come in for a couple of hours of sightseeing, then drive out here for a late lunch by the water; or reverse it and finish the day with a pint. If you fancy more time on the river, punting from Magdalen Bridge or the Cherwell Boathouse is a short hop away, and for a different sort of pub the tucked-away Turf Tavern and the reliable Quod are both in the centre. For the full run of options, our guide to eating and drinking in the area covers everything from village locals to riverside inns like this one.
“Sit on the terrace with the weir roaring underneath and a glass of something cold. That's the whole plan. It doesn't need improving.”
All of this on the doorstep, and your own thatched cottage to come home to. Sleeps seven, less than a mile from Soho Farmhouse.