30/09/23 - The Plough at Ford, Gloucestershire

Who would have guessed what my First Good Beer Guide Pint for the 2024 Edition was?

No UK based walking blogs for a few weeks. We've been rambling in Portugal, fueled by Superbock. A member of our party was from Stow on the Wold and wasn't a fan of the brewery closest to his home.

This reminded me that its been two years since I walked the Donnington Way. Day 4 saw me walk past the Plough Inn at Ford too early for refreshment. 

A quick search through the reference material and I find a shortish walk - suitable for Mrs M and a Guide Dog in Training, Ivy. Mrs M keen for lunch out. Ivy keen for new fields to sniff at.

We head off, full of optimism that is cruelly shattered when Mrs M checks Google for the post code to be entered into a German Sat Nav. The Plough is closed for unspecified reasons for two weeks.

No worries, the Farmers Arms at Guiting Power is not too far from our planned destination. This pub was temporarily closed when I was on the 5 day walk. Between landlords. Mrs M checks opening hours.  All Good. Checks they do food. All good. Then she throws in the most unexpected news....

Donnington SBA will be my first GBG 2023 Pint

There's a turn-up. I haven't even started my cross ticking yet.

First the walk - The Plough at Ford leads directly to the Cotswold countryside. A frankly dull walk that is either along the edge of Jonjo O'Neills horse training gallops or through agricultural fields.  The paths are decent - the Gloucestershire Way out and the Diamond Way back.

2 attempts and the Plough at Ford remains unvisited

Most of the views have been like this today

Out of the three of us, I'd say Ivy enjoyed it the most.

Free running next to the cornfields

Have you ever tried to use the voice controlled Sat Nav input of a German Car to say "Guiting Power"?

Do you know what it says back to you when you yell "FFS!" after the forth attempt prompts the reply "I cannot find Guiding Powder in my database"?  To get its own back at my anglo saxon language, it takes us down roads with grass in the middle that lead to bolted gates on a private estate. Kamikaze guinea fowl testing the ABS. 

We are a little stressed by the time we make it to the busy village - but a combination of getting the final parking space and table in the pub cheers up our mood. Things could have been so much worse.

Ladders out to erect the "We are in it.... 2024 GBG" Sign

It's all as expected from 5 days of walking between their tied house. A handsome pub. Very plain beer. I asked the Landlord if the brewery had sent any acknowledgement to their CAMRA endorsement. They hadn't but they certainly should. Talk about defying the odds. The SBA perfectly kept but as devoid of taste as I remember.

2024 Kicks Off

And my taste buds are working fine. It took me three bites to determine the "Pie of Day" - steak and ale, according to our server - was in fact chicken.

It was damn fine. Pastry crust top, bottom and side.  

A pie, not a lie.

Walk Details

Distance - 6 Miles

Geocaches - 1

Walk Inspiration - Cotswold Rambles, Red Book, Walk 8

26/06/22 - Donnington at Toddington - The Pheasant Inn

Distance - 3.5 Miles

Walk Inspiration - The Donnington Way App

Geocaches - 2

Last Summer, I headed off to complete one of two Long Distance Paths that I know are dedicated to breweries. The Donnington Way is a 62 Mile walk through the finest parts of the Cotswolds, visiting 14 of breweries tied houses. There's also a similar trail for the Butcombe brewery. Comments are open for anyone with additional recommendations.

The Donnington Way has an app, which also details a couple of outliers from the main route. There is a simple, circular walk from the Pheasant Inn at Toddington - a small village just outside my favourite Cotswold town, Winchcombe.

A gap in the calendar and a Sunday lunch loving wife provided the perfect opportunity to visit.

The walk packs in quite a lot for its short duration;

Gloucestershire/Warwickshire Heritage Railway.....

.... runs from Cheltenham to Broadway

Cotswold Beasts of the Field

Fine Walking

Cotswold Honey-stone Architecture at Didbrook

The Pheasant Inn is an unusual 11am opener on a Sunday.  Lovely to see a huge pub filling up before the midday ordering of food can commence.  

And the food was well worth the wait

In a world full of constant change, its always nice to see a bit of consistency. The Donnington SBA was exactly as expected and remembered.

If looks could taste.....

20/08/21 - The Donnington Way Summary

Distance - 62 Miles

The Donnington Way is a 62 Mile walk developed in 1990 by Colin Handy in a little guidebook.  No longer in print but can be found on ebay, although this has surprisingly been superceded by a mobile phone app.  The app also details individual day walks from each pub. 

The Guide Book

The plan is to visit the 15 tied Donnington Pubs in the chain.  A few notes on that;

• 14 remain - The Coach and Horses, Ganborough a permanent closure
• The Farmers Arms in Guiting Power is temporarily closed in Aug 2021.  New landlord required, so should be soon back and running.
• In the way that I divided the route, two pubs are passed too early in the day.
• The brewery is walked past and has a shop.  I timed it when the owner was around and had an impromptu tour.  And a free hat.
• Three pubs have been subsequently added, but too far off route to add.  The app will be used to develop day walks from;
• The Pheasant, Toddington
• The Red Lion, Castle Eaton
• The White Bear, Shipston-on-Stour

There are two main reasons for completing the walk.  

The North Cotswolds area offers some perfect walking and the way shares paths with various other LDPs, including the Heart of England Way, the Monarchs Way, Windrush Way and Wardens Way.  It meanders in a circle through the quintessential Cotswold villages of Moreton-in-the Marsh, Stow-on-the-Wold, Bouton-on-the-Water, Broadway and Chipping Campden.  The final two needing to work on their hyphenation.

The pubs are superb examples of Country House hostelries.  All flagged floors, exposed beams, ancient courthouses/cottages/farmhouses converted to use as boozers.  Despite the often lonely locations, they were all reassuringly busy.  Alan Winfield - pub crawler extraordinaire - rated most of them 10/10 on Pubgalore, usually with a "it was a nice drink" in the notes. 

My itinerary was based around easy public transport access - Moreton-in-the-Marsh is on the Hereford to London Rail Line.  Accommodation found at pubs through Booking.Com.  Two nights spent in Donnington Pubs.  Details on each day at the below hyperlinks.

Day 1:  Moreton-in-the-Marsh to Stow-on-the-Wold - 11 Miles.

Day 2: Stow-on-the-Wold to Great Barringhton - 15 Miles

Day 3: Great Barrington to Kineton - 14 Miles

Day 4: Kineton to Chipping Campden - 16 Miles

Day 5: Chipping Campden to Moreton-in-the-Marsh

The Flickr Album

20/08/21 - Donnington Way - Day 5 - Chipping Campden to Moreton-in-Marsh

Distance - 6.5 Miles

Geocaches - 1

Pubs - 2

Previous Days - Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4

The odyssey comes to an end, with a short distance to walk and a route that I covered step-by-step on the Heart of England Way.

An opportunity to reflect on the beer.

There are three in the core range.

The Three Donnington Beers - and a Cider

BB - The entry level - a 3.6% traditional bitter.  I avoided it for the entire walk.  When it was the only (gravity fed) beer available at the Fox Great Barrington, I developed a hankering for red wine.

Cotswold Gold - Found at all the pubs - their web site says that its award winning, but fails to mention what award it was.  A golden 4.0%.

SBA - Not found until half way around the trail at the Black Horse, Naunton.  Easily the pick of the bunch at a more robust 4.4%.

The beers are deceptive - when kept well, they initially poor perfectly.  A crystal clear pint, often with a decent foamy head.

Looks the business - maybe a top up required

The head will soon disappear and lacings are an alien word.  I was always left with a clean glass.  

The real problem though, is a lack of taste.  There's so little going on.  It will refresh you after a long walk, but you'll never get that moreish hit you'd expect.

Still, the pubs are lovely.

Leave Chipping Campden and head due south - through the pretty village of Broad Campden (too early for the GBG Bakers Arms) and into Blockley.

Ancient Quaker House, Broad Campden

Blockley

Looking back on Blokley from the Heart of England Way

It's all downhill from Batsford Arboretum, through arable fields and into Moreton-in-the-Marsh to have a final pint of SBA until I return to walk from the unexplored.  The temporarily closed (Farmers Arms) and the passed too early (Plough Inn, Ford).

The Black Bear opens at 11:30am and at 11:32am, there is a queue to get in.  I wait for the scrape of the bolt from the other side of the road and when the line is no longer there, I make my move.

An explanation to the bar-maid about this being the end of my 5 day journey does not result in the free pint that I was hoping.  Still, can't complain.  I did get a free hat from the brewery on day 2.

Black Bear, Moreton-in-Marsh

Waiting for the queue to die down

A Final SBA.  An accidental reveal of the WiFi Password.  Canned Alternatives.

19/08/21 - Donnington Way - Day 4 - Kineton to Chipping Campden

Distance - 16 Miles

Geocaches - 2 and a Lab Cache

Pubs - 4

Previous Days - Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Judging by the amount of photos taken, Day 4 provides the best walking.  Unsurprising, as the villages passed reel off a greatest hits of Cotswold delights... Snowshill, Stanton, Broadway and finishing at one end of the Cotswold Way in Chipping Campden.

Its North from Kineton and the proximity of Ford means that I have to walk past another Donnington Pub - The Plough Inn.  Colin Handy, the guide book writer, waxes lyrical about "vast fireplaces, with hand made hinges" and slightly more bizarrely, asparagus.  

I will be back to check on the veracity of his claim that it is "one of England's Oldest Inns".

The Plough Inn at Ford

Refreshment is not too far onwards - and Snowshill is a quintessential Cotswold Town.  So nice that people in Ferrari's come to visit.  A collection of honey stone cottages around a central church/pub combo.

Snowshill

Snowshill Arms

My visit sums up the Donnington Pub experience in a nutshell.  It's gorgeous inside and out.  Its open at 11am and is starting to get busy.  I cannot help but overhear the bar-staff talk to one another about "keeping an eye on the SBA, we had complaints yesterday".

Just when I was enjoying myself, relaxing on the green leather bench seating.  Half way down my SBA.

.

Alan Winfield (from yesterday's blog) gave it 10/10

A drop down to the Worcestershire Plain is needed.  I know the area well and aware that I'm also going to have climb back up the flanks of Fish Hill.  I can worry about that later.  Another classic Donnington Pub, the Mount, provides a barely justified second refreshment stop.

I've only walked about a mile, downhill.

The Mount Inn

Rather annoyingly, they've kept to their covid policies, possibly trying to get some return on their investment.  You cannot sit inside.  You need to order via a QR Code.

The system is monumentally flawed, when the staff have to lean all over the pensioner punters to show them how to do this.  

The Stroud Cycling Club are also in.  One's not happy with the amount of olives.  His mate is more unhappy as he ordered first on the app and he is the only one without his meal.  Have you ever heard cyclists bicker?  It's not pleasant.

Thought I had said Goodbye to QR Codes

A plethora of choices in Broadway and it was hard to walk on past the Crown and Trumpet - a Good Beer Guide regular and easily the best in town.  I will make it to their Thursday Jazz Nights one day.

Instead, I save myself for my only new Good Beer Guide Tick along the entire route.  The Broadway Hotel sounds exactly what it is.  An expensive, food led tourist hot spot. The Old Hooky was just what my palate demanded.

C16th Hotel, overlooking the village green

Can they have a W please Bob

The penultimate Donnington Pub of the way is at the Willersey, the next village.  Ordinarily, I would have walked past, expecting little entertainment at 3pm on a Thursday afternoon but it was quite amusing seeing how many tradesmen do their admin from a beer garden.

Alas, I could take no more boring brown bitters, so I had a San Miguel.  You cannot hate me more than I hate myself.  Untappd reminded me its owned by Carlsberg.

Tradesmen's Office

Back to the walking - its all uphill to meet the Cotswold Way at Dover's Hill.  Saintbury Church providing a place for a breather.  The views just about making up for the exertion.

Saintbury Church

All of Worcestershire....

... Can be seen from Dover's Hill

Familiar walking into Chipping Campden and I've picked my accommodation well.

The Volunteer Inn is the first pub you meet on arrival.  

And it has an in-house Indian.

View from a Room

18/08/21 - Donnington Way - Day 3 - Great Barrington to Kineton

Distance - 14 Miles

Geocaches - 4 and a Lab Cache

Pubs - 3

Previous Days - Day 1, Day 2

Midway through the trail and I discover that I am on the trail of Alan Winfield.  A legend in pub crawl circles, who seemingly thought little of fitting in 18 pubs in a go.  No one knows whether he was drinking pints or halves.  But we can guess.

From the review site, pubsgalore.co.uk, where he diligently updated visits from before the Internet was invented, it would appear that on the 07/05/2011 he had a chauffeur.  In true Alan style, he visited them all in a single day.

One of Alan's Easier Pub Crawls - just the 15

Why didn't I think of that, you may ask?  Well, I would have missed out of some terrific walking and today may be the best.  Following the River Windrush through tourist hot-spots and some picture perfect Cotswold villages, with plenty of refreshment stops. 

Having had the paths to myself, its a bit of a shock to the system to arrive at Bourton-in-the-Water at lunchtime.  Its always busy but maybe a combination of staycations and school holidays mean its busier than ever.  The unprepared rambler may be seduced to one of the touristy pubs but tranquility can be found if you consult the Good Beer Guide.   To the North of the town is an area called Lansdown and the best pub in the area can be found at the Mousetrap Inn.

Little Bridges in Bourton

Best bit in Bourton

On my visit, they were stocking three beers from the Clavell and Hind Brewery.  I'd never heard of them, but they are based nearby in Birdlip.  The Coachman and Liberty providing a welcome change from the Cotswold Gold.  

It tough to drag myself away but I know there are future refreshment stops and the walking along the Windrush and Warden's Way(s) is the best encountered so far.

A rare bit of blue sky

Naunton is the first village of the afternoon and the Black Horse takes the title of the best Donnington pub encountered.  This may have been because it was the first to stock Donnington SBA - the pick of their three beers.  It also had a great landlady who knew all about the Donnington Way.  She joked about about the locals referring to the pub in Kineton as the Halfway Inn.  Or the Disappointed Lady.

Best Donnington Pub.  Jaunty Sign

She also informed me that the pub in the next village, Guiting Power, is temporarily closed due to new landlords being requried.  An unexpected retirement leaving them landlordless.  I will return and complete a walk from the Donnington App.

I entertain myself by trying to buy a newspaper - impossible after 3pm, when the PO sends them back - and completing an Adventure Lab Cache - finding information around the church and village.

Guiting Power

Only a mile to the final pub of the day and my accommodation for the night.  Contrary to the Black Horses Landlady, it actually called the Halfway House.

Full range of Donnington beers are on and as the pub was the only facility in the village, it was packed all night, with a broad range of customers.  Elderly diners, Internet Stealing Teens and solo ramblers who need that bandwidth to watch the Baggies mid week game.

Half Way To Heaven (when your team wins 4-0)

17/08/21 - Donnington Way - Day 2 - Stow-on-the-Wold to Great Barrington

Distance - 15 Miles

Geocaches - 0

Pubs - 3

Previous Day 

Day 2 on the Donnington Way - where the route makes a detour North to visit a pair of Coach and Horses.

The first at Longborough is less than 3 miles from Stow-on-the-Wold.  The second at Ganborough is the only one of the original 15 tied pubs that is permanently closed.   Unfortunately, this meant that I was too early for the Longborough one to be open.  I'll let another blogger describe it.

Coach and Horses, Longborough - I have also been before

Donnington Brewery - despite no active social media presence and a big play on tradition - have embraced the C21st.  There is a mobile phone app available that details not only the Donnington Way but has an easy day walk from each of their pubs.  This will work well for any pubs that I pass and are unopened - plus providing inspiration for future walks from three new pubs added to their stable.  The Pheasant at Toddington, Red Lion at Castle Eaton and White Bear at Shipston-on-Stour can be explored at a later date.

The route is faithfully followed for a very good reason.  Its heads through Donnington and of course, passes the Brewery.

Alas, I can carry no more

The brewery is in an idyllic setting, at a Watermill dating from 1291.  I decide to make a visit and am treated to a tour of the site.  Not easy navigating three floors carrying a 70l rucksack but I do remember to duck under the overhead pulleys, still driven by the water-wheel.

Come in and ask for Roger

Where the Cotswold Gold comes from

I jokingly ask if they have any of the original stickers so that I can refresh the stiles/signs on route.

I am provided with a hat.  The odyssey now has corporate sponsorship.

Brand loyalty comes in handy for first pub of the day - the Golden Ball at Lower Swell.  Its 11:45am and they are not quite open.  Seeing my dedication, they are happy to serve early.

Golden Ball, Upper Swell

How to get Served Early

A chance for a break, watching the car park and pub fill up.  Reassuring to see for a Tuesday lunch time in the middle of nowhere.

The rest is much required, as the afternoon requires 10 miles of walking, sharing the route with the Heart of England Way for much of the route.  Wyck Rissington, Little Rissington and a non-Donnington Pub at Great Rissington - the Lamb Inn.

The Lamb Inn, Great Rissington.  Spitfire a Donnington Alternative

Accommodation booked at the Fox Inn, Great Barrington, where I arrive at 5pm.... finding the front door all locked up and bringing back the a feeling of despair last experienced at Hawnby.  Please don't tell me its closed down....

Fox Inn - I shall follow the arrows

They've got a bit of weird setup - where during Covid, they have closed the actual pub and are serving from a marquee around the back.  The dining room is still open - which is a good job, as there is nowhere else for miles. 

Where the Action Is

All evening entertainment options are contained here.  There's not a lot of joy to be had from gravity fed 3.6% BB, which I don't think stands for Boring Bitter.  An elderly gent tells me there are otters in the River Windrush that trickles through the garden.  I've always got Tripadvisor to provide inspiration on what I should order for my evening meal.

Unpromising

Chester - the scourge of TA

I have to report that both the staff and the food were nice.  No complaints from me.  In the interest of balance, I'll leave my own TA review.