The Bull, England Hotel

Oxfrodshire, England

Picture a Hollywood portrayal of rural Britain, and you’re close to the daily reality of life in Charlbury. The honey-stoned market town, just a short hop from Oxford, is a medley of rose-draped cottages, Elizabethan architecture, a Norman church and the steeply gabled Gothic House once owned by an apothecary of some note. Bang in the middle of it all is The Bull – a 15th-century boozer on the corner of Sheep Street. No doubt there have been many iterations over its 600-year history, but you can’t help but feel it’s enjoying a golden period – ageing most elegantly under the new management of Phil Wisner and James Gummer. It’s something of a homecoming for the duo, who arrive fresh from the success of The Pelican in Notting Hill, bringing their signature style: natural materials, muted palette, a keen, historic eye that champions an open hearth, a rickety spiral staircase. Restraint is at the heart of their aesthetic. Not just in design terms, but in a menu that is sparse in its descriptions (rump, black cabbage; or muntjac, plum), yet generous in their portioning. Stand-outs include a meaty cut of brill swimming in a caper-butter sauce, and the most decadent quenelle of chocolate mousse. Ten ensuite rooms continue the elegant understatement – the heaviest of curtains, the softest bedding and Wildsmith Skin products that mean the delicate scent of rose geranium follows you all day, a reminder of the restorative night spent coddled in Chipping Norton. Doubles from £140.

Words by Rachel Walker.

This article was taken from the May 2024 issue of Food and Travel. To subscribe today, click here.