There has been an inn on this site in Stow-on-the-Wold since 947AD, which allows the Porch House to call itself the oldest hotel in Britain. And although you can feel the history as soon as you walk in – it’s all wonky ceilings and head-banging door frames – this pub-hotel is a great example of how period properties can be reimagined for the 21st century.
About 18 months ago, the place was done up by Henley-based Brakspear brewery, which added herringbone carpets, freestanding Victorian-style baths and plenty of Fired Earth paints but left enough alone to make the rooms feel individual. Ours, number one, has a bathroom (no shower) tucked up among the ancient beams, which have been partially removed to make a double-height sleeping area. It’s one of the biggest rooms, though somewhat marred by its proximity to the kitchen extractor fan.
Twelve other rooms vary in size and style (number four is tiny, with old leaded windows overlooking the street), but all are furnished with antiques, snazzy coffee machines, kettles and tea supplies as well as a guest book containing info on the property and a list of things you may have forgotten (from toothbrushes to condoms) that they can provide, along with taxi numbers, restaurant recommendations and (free) Wi-Fi codes. It’s all pretty impressive, more like a small hotel than a country pub.
Downstairs, rippled flagstone floors, and walls lined with antique portraits and framed yellowing pages from hunting manuals provide the kind of heritage touches that Japanese and American tourists coo over (while nursing a tankard of Oxford Gold ale).
In a place like this it would be easy to serve any old food and make a killing, but someone in the kitchen is making an effort. And provenance is made plenty of – asparagus is grown up the road; beef and pork come from Todenham Manor farm, a few miles away. Our dinner of crispy onion tarte tartin (£13.50) accompanied by a must-try-that-at-home Waldorf salad (less cream, more walnut) and lamb rump with artichokes (£21) was excellent – and so it should have been at these prices.
The affluent, second-homing organic eaters have made their mark round here, on prices and standards, and if your wallet can take it, the Porch House is a handy base for a foodie tour. We were too disorganised to get a booking at the Wheatsheaf at Northleach, one of a handful of Cotswold pubs wowing critics (including Jay Rayner), but walked over the road and straight into the Old Butchers, which still does tapas from £3.50.
Stow is one of those perfectly scenic places – a honeystone town on the edge of the vale of Evesham surrounded by rolling countryside. Yes, it’s the Farrow-and-Balled stomping ground of David Cameron and his Chipping Norton crew. Yes, it’s touristy and the art galleries, cafes and shops selling 100 styles of printed scarf are a bit twee. But only the most curmudgeonly could fail to be charmed by this pretty version of olde England. The walking is fantastic, and the views are amazing, especially in late spring, when the bridleways are edged with cow parsley and the fields are in their most vibrant shades of green.
For early risers, staff at the Porch House will bring tea and toast in bed to assuage hunger pangs until breakfast. And if you follow their walking tip – past Maugersbury Manor and along the Fosse Way, as flashes of white rabbit tails bounce across the fields – it’s hard not to fall a bit in love with the bucolic perfectness of it all.
• Accommodation was provided by the Porch House, Digbeth Street, Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, 01451 870048, porch-house.co.uk. Doubles from £89 B&B
Ask a local
Heidi Coles, founder, Cotswold Chocolate Company
• Drink
The New England Coffee House (up the road from the Porch House) serves the best coffee in Stow. Beans are roasted on the premises and it has fabulous homemade cakes.
• See
With its porch framed by ancient yews, the 13th-century St Edward’s Church on Sheep Street looks like something from Hobbiton. There are panoramic Cotswolds views from the Cricket Club west of town.
• Eat
A friendly pub with a good menu, The Bell does especially tasty sweet potato fries. Cotswolds Baguettes is popular for picnics or food on the go – everything is made to order, with delicious home-cooked fillings.
