The Swan Hotel

Ascott-under-Wychwood

A honey-hued Cotswolds darling near Chipping Norton, this 16th-century coaching inn steals the show for its modern take on pub grub. It starts with fresh bread – sourdough and rye – with three homemade churns: horseradish and dripping butter, goat’s butter with lardons and a fiery gochujang spread, and a fine blend embedded with pieces of pork scratching, large flakes of Maldon salt and truffle sauce.

Up next are six plump kingfisher prawns swimming in ’nduja and garlic butter, followed by a thick, blushing bavette steak and a hearty homemade chicken and leek pie with buttery mash. An interval featuring locally distilled Garden Tiger G&Ts garnished with orange slices acts as a palate cleanser, before an indulgent pool of molten Jaffa Cake chocolate pudding topped with candied pistachios and creamy pistachio gelato.

Afterwards, near-perfect negronis are whisked up
to our snug room – an ideal postprandial sign-off. In the morning, if you can tear yourself from the grand bathtub – filled with lavender-scented 100 Acre bubbles – a breakfast of house-smoked salmon and scrambled duck egg is a doozy. It only opened in May, but we predict big things for this eight-room bolthole.

Doubles from £90