10/01/26 - The Pubs of Henley-in-Arden

Geocaching in the Snow

There aren't many Geocaching trails published any more. There was a time when seemingly a multi-cache trail within my 25 mile home radius would be created monthly. Someone posted on the UK Geocaching Facebook group asking for a family friendly trail and one of the few responses pointed to Henley-in-Arden.

Starting at the railway station, it's a short 3 mile loop with 13 caches. I expected the snow and ice. I did not expect puddles the size and depth of small lakes. I am pleased to report that my aging Scarpas are still waterproof, but really, wellies would have been a better bet.

The terrain was familiar from the Arden Way, Millennium Way and West Midlands Country Way.

Station Start

Out into the Countryside

Henley-in-Arden was once a coaching town. The main high street runs for a mile and is unusually wide. It was the first stop from Birmingham to London and once there were 25 coaching inns lining this mile.

With a (kind of) new establishment being setup, I decide to tick off those that remain. Bar Trek suggests 6 locations, but we can discount the Bluebell and the Mount as restaurants only. The Black Swan a little too far to the north.

The Three Tuns

Starting with easily the best - a Good Beer Guide regular for the last four years. I don't really need the new advertising to entice me in.

Liquid Gold

The Best in Henley

12:30pm and I am the only punter. The bar staff are loading coals onto the open fire, so I know which seat in the house I will be taking to thaw out. A nice beer chat about how well the Bathams sells.  The locals need to get to the Exchange in Stourbridge. Paying £5.20 here, their minds will be blown at how cheap it is in the Black Country.

Show me a prettier sight?

The Nag's Head

All of Henley's punters appear to be in here. Most tables are full, with a mixture of diners and boozers. One gent on lunchtime whisky, which is always brave.

The beer choice is good - Proper Job or Landlord. Having just got back from Cornwall, I chose the latter. Which was far too cold for cask.

Traditional Boozer - Henley's most popular

The White Swan / The Henley Mile

I've never warmed to the White Swan - the most gastro of gastros, where I experienced poor service on the Heart of England Way and have never forgiven them since. Not since I discovered the Three Tuns.

Yet, I was intrigued by a new tap room in town - The Henley Mile. It's hard to know where this starts and the White Swan ends - as it is housed in the same building on the opposite side of the courtyard.

Look carefully for the Henley Mile Sign

My chatty barman couldn't offer any advice. He stated that they were autonomous operations with shared infrastructure. The "Our Story" section of the website offers little more.

Several of their own beers on - Twice Hanged, Perkins Prescription, Run Charlie Run (chosen and very good) - all named after local Henley characters, with explanations on the beer mats.

Run Charlie Run - A Perfect Best Bitter

So, that's the Henley-in-Arden pub scene completed.

I only needed 90 minutes.

Walk Details

Distance - 3 Miles

Geocaches - 14

First Cache

27/10/18 - Heart of England Way Stage 19 - Out of Henley

Distance - 7 Miles
Geocaches - 1
Pub - Good Beer Guide Tick 332 - The White Swan, Henley in Arden
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


I was full of praise for the last leg of the HOEW - really enjoying the walk that took us into Henley in Arden.

Stage 19 - taking us out of Henley - has proved the polar opposite.  Dull as ditch water and completed on a day when I had failed to bring my winter walking wardrobe.   I was froze.

Out of the now all to familiar Henley High Street and up to the railway station.   Soon in the countryside, following shared Long Distance Paths - The Millennum Way, the Arden Way and of course, the HOEW.

All the Ways

The "target" is Bannams Woods - marking the point where the HOEW is left and a return to Henley is plotted.   The path disappears in the undergrowth but there are decent Warwickshire views from the slight ridge.

Warwickshire Views

Simple country paths, running parallel to the HOEW take me back.   There's really nothing more than this to show you.   Sleet is just too damn complicated to photograph.

Clouding Over for Wintry Showers

Its the thought of a Good Beer Guide Tick that keeps me going.

White Swan, High Street, Henley in Arden - Black Sheep

Unsurprisingly, in this ancient town, a pub has stood here since 1352.   Location, location, location - opposite the church and the Market Hall.

Pub, closest to the Church

And the Indian

The current building is from the 1500s but when its been taken over by the Stone Aged Steakhouse company, its bound to have had a bit of a tarting up.

Tudor - not Stone Aged

Once in, its a very smart gastro pub - with drinkers forced to sit on high seats running along the bar.

This is annoying.   A)  there is a separate dining room - so why allow diners to commandeer the bar tables to eat their thin crust pizzas?  and B) it means I cannot get to the bar and the bar staff have no control on who is next to be served.

Eventually, a prize winner for surliest bar staff of the year asks "who's next" and I volunteer my services to sample the Black Sheep.

It's carried around the bar looking for a seat - hopefully next to an open fire - but alas, no room in the inn.

I'm forced to take it into the dining room and sit, all alone at a secondary bar.  Plenty of time to contemplate just how this place gets in a Good Beer Guide.

Then I take a sip.

Perfect Pint

Top class beer.   Dreadful Experience.

See you next Month for Stage 20.

29/9/18 - Heart of England Way Stage 18 - Into Henley

Distance - 6 Miles
Geocaches - 6
Pub - Good Beer Guide Tick 319 - The Three Tuns, Henley in Arden
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



So what exactly made the 18th Monthly Walk in the Heart of England Way the best so far?

A combination of bright blue skies, varied footpaths and the first new pub tick from the 2019 Good Beer Guide.   It was also a delight to have the company of Mrs M and Guide Dog in training Joy.

I've never really got on with Henley-in-Arden - even with the mix of historical architecture along its never ending mile long high street.   I walked from here many times and the pubs were always a let down.   We've suffered in the past from poor service (White Swan) and poor value (The Bluebell).   After cross ticking my entries in the new guide, I realise that there is a previously unvisited boozer to look forward to.

And the free parking is always a bonus.  Just tricky finding your way through the courtyards to the High Street.

Ancient Henley

We pick up the Heart of England Way instantly, passing the 2nd church of the day and heading up to the Norman Castle site of Beaudesert Mount. 

View from a former Norman Castle Site

The walking is steady, rather than dramatic.  Careful checking of livestock to see if the dog can "go free".  All we find are their droppings, which are strangely delicious to a 7 month old puppy.

Working our way across Warwickshire

Coppice Corner provides the half way point and a change of scenery as we enter dense woodland.

Into the Woods

Preston Fields Lane is navigated, along with its ford.  Joy hasn't quite determined whether she likes water yet.  Once it gets past her knees, she legs it back to terra firma.  She's dried out by the time we reach Preston Bagot Church and happy to pose for photos.

Preston Bagot - right in the middle of nowhere

Guide Dog in Training Joy

To aid her training, she is introduced to sheep, cows and horses in the fields on the way back to Henley.

Back in Henley

Onto the pub.  The Three Tuns is the chosen one, proudly displaying its brand new bright red "we're in it sticker" in the window.

Just about make out the Sticker in the Window

It's simply too nice to be inside, so we make the most of the street benches to soak up the sun.  Which is a shame, as inside, this C16th is a pubby gem of dartboards, exposed beams and proper pub seating.

Perfect for when its raining

Perfect for when its dry

We'll be back in Henley on the next leg of the Heart of England Way.   The White Swan - the town's 2nd Good Beer Guide Entry - will be beer tested.

The London Pride at the Three Tuns has set a high bar.

19/07/14 - Weather to Go?

Distance - 5.5 Miles
Geocaches - 6
Walk Inspiration - Stage 14 of Millennium Way


I am dog tired.  Thursday Night's Thunderstorm took us by surprise and we tried to sleep through the thunder claps and the lightning that illuminated the bedroom.

Friday night, I expressed more interested.  When awakened by the dog crying at 3am (turns out she doesn't like it) I spent an hour tracking the lighting bolts on a web site on my tablet.  Amazing what you can do with technology.

So it came to this weekend's walking.  We looked all around the area and Warwickshire was saying merely cloudy between 10am and 2pm.  Should we risk a leg on the Millennium way?

We went for it - driving through some terrible weather that stopped once we got within 5 miles of Henley-In-Arden.  Once again, I am amazed by weather predicting/viewing technology.

Park up at the Prince Harry car park and down the high street before heading through the Spa to get into the open countryside.  We are doing the walk in reverse, to ensure that we pass the pubs on our re-entry into Henley.

No Jacket Required at this Point

The caches are in the early part of this route.  Part of a longer trail but we are only looking for 6 of them today.  Sonia gets the tricky ones.

Caching makes up for the lack of views and items of interest.  The only thing that seemed to interest Sonia was the size of a Ram's Doo-Dahs, which she made me photograph and share with the world.

Swing Low

Then the weathermen let us down.  The heaven's open.  Thankfully free of a thunderstorm but the prediction of clouds tell only half the story.  These are cloud's dumping their contents on us.

At First, we hide out in a barn

After 10 minutes waiting to see if it will improve, there is nothing for it and we get the goretex jackets out the rucksack.

I a starting to lose my faith in high end waterproof kit.  Once again, we are out for a couple of hours and despite goretex everything - we are soaked through to the skin and empty water out of our boots.  Should have just gone in a cagoule.

The walk is lacking variety - fields out.  A road section.  Fields back.  It kind of looks like this.

Saving you the effort

After the road, we head back to town - picking up this circular walk's leg of the Millennium Way.

Millennium Way - One of four to follow

If anything, the way back is worse.  Not only is the rain heavier but we have the dog unfriendly stiles that prompted us to leave the scaredy cat dog at home. We also have waist wet crops to deal with.

Still - you can only get so damp.

Heading Back through the Crops

To keep spirits up, we talk about what refreshment we will choose when we hit the town.  We had problems the last time we came walking in Henley.  The White Swan has a proud sign saying that "it has been serving Henley for over 650 Years".  Last time we came, we were told they were not doing food at lunch time as they were expecting a big party in.

16 Months later we enter, sit down and look at the menu.  The barman rushes over.  He more or less asks me what I am doing in his fine pub.  When I say, "I might have lunch" he replies in a surly manner - "well you better hurry up, as we have a big party coming in".

Serving Henley for 650 years.  But not in a particularly pleasant way.