26/12/23 - Centenary Way - Stage 23 - Oxhill, Whatcote and Tysoe

 3 Pretty Warwickshire Villages, separated by mud

2024 New Year's resolution has to be to read walk background information before setting off.

As usual, I spent too much time looking at pub choices, trying to determine which ones might be open on which day. Bank Holiday Boxing Day can always go one way or the other.

This leg of the Centenary Way connects three little villages, each with a pub, a church and various buildings of Grade II listed status. In between, it's mud - ranging from the thick claggy stuff that leaves your feet covered in pizza sized cow pats - to slurry, where you disappear up to your calves. It was not fun. Let's concentrate on what was found - or not.

Oxhill - I made this the start of the walk, mainly as the Peacock is open 7 days a week. Four cask ales on and a solid enough village local trying to cater for everyone. The church wasn't explored but had I completed my research, I could have discovered Myrtilla's Tomb - one of the earliest in England to commemorate a person of African descent. A slave, so by rights, I would have needed to vandalise some property of the Beauchamp family.

The Peacock at Oxhill

Post Walk Hook Norton Twelve Days, taken in my socks.  Muddy shoes left outside.

Whatcote - Has a pub, the Michelin awarded Royal Oak, which I don't think is for the likes of me.  Click the link for a web site that is worthy of a four course tasting menu for £85. However, the Whatpub description makes it sound slightly more appealing and I do return on the next leg. There is a 90 minute window on a Saturday/Sunday lunch;

An ancient stone-built pub in the middle of the village, it dates back to 1168 and was originally built to house masons building the church. The extensive inglenook contains rungs leading to a hideaway. Patronised by Cromwell's officers after the nearby Battle of Edgehill. Previously it was a Hook Norton pub but is now a free house. Completely refurbished and re-opened in 2017, it holds a Michelin Star (first awarded in 2021).

Again, the church was unexplored but this one suffered bomb damage in WWII. There may well be a memorial to the only casualty. A sheep.

Not for you

Upper and Middle Tysoe - The biggest of the three villages, which I access through the grounds of the manor house. Another Peacock Pub, which would not normally be open on a Tuesday but making special allowance for Boxing Day. Only my mud covered footwear stopped me from investigating the laughter within.

Tysoe's Peacock

Walk Information

Distance - 7.5 Miles

Geocaches - 2

Pub - The Peacock, Oxhill

Previous Stages - Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 5, Stage 6, Stage 7, Stage 8, Stage 9, Stage 10, Stage 11, Stage 12, Stage 13, Stage 14, Stage 15, Stage 16, Stage 17, Stage 18, Stage 19, Stage 20, Stage 21, Stage 22