A recent visit to The Crown Inn located in the village of Church Enstone in the Cotswolds found a little gem. The beautiful beer garden was as welcome as the delicious food, and we thoroughly enjoyed admiring the artworks displayed about the heritage pub buildings.
Why We Love This Hotel
An ideal location, great food, great service, and all your home comforts, all housed in a wonderful traditional English pub; what’s not to love.
Location
The Crown Inn can be found tucked just down from the church in the village of Church Enstone within the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in West Oxfordshire, UK. This is an ideal location to stay when exploring Cotswolds’ countryside and towns; the market town of Chipping Norton is just 5 miles away, and Blenheim Palace is 7 miles away. We also ventured to Stow-on-the-Wold, frequently known as one of the prettiest towns in the Cotswolds, and the gorgeous Bourton-on-the-Water for some relaxation Cotswolds-style. If serious shopping beckons, Bicester Village is just a 20-minute drive away. Church Enstone itself is lovely too, and we walked off just a little of our breakfast with a stroll around the pretty village admiring the thatched cottages and 9th-century church.
Best Time To Visit
There’s surely no wrong time of year to visit the captivating Cotswolds. While the English winter has a reputation of not always being the driest, if wet weather means sitting by the fire enjoying a glass of something chilled at The Crown Inn, then I’m there. Spring and Summer bring greenery and color to the hedges and meadows, and the garden here would undoubtedly be magnificent at this time of year.
How To Get There
The Inn is just off the A44, one of the main routes into the Cotswolds from the East, so it’s very convenient to find. Gloucestershire Airport is 36.7 miles away should you arrive by air, and the area is well served by rail links with Charlbury station 4 miles away and Oxford Parkway 13 miles away.
Style & Character
The walls of the 17th-century pub are hung with the artwork of local artist and owner George Irvine, alongside other local artists. This lends a wonderfully colorful and very personal feel to the pub and is fascinating to browse. Aside from the art gallery vibe, this is a traditional English country pub that has been modernized just enough. The essence of this charming rustic pub remains, something hard to find. As well as the main bar room, there’s a separate restaurant room and a large, light-filled orangery.
The garden is a delight in its own right, the gardener was in evidence when we visited, and you could see signs of his passion for the place in the established cottage garden and creative planting. A chat with the friendly staff revealed that they hoped to add cover and heat to some of the outdoor seating, meaning you could enjoy the garden all year round.
Service & Facilities
There is a complimentary car park alongside the pub. The Wi-Fi is free, and the room included not just tea and coffee making facilities, but fresh milk in the morning (you collect from a small fridge just outside the rooms) and very large and delicious homemade cookies! All very welcome touches that further provided that home from home feel. Bathrooms are considered important here and are not only style icons, but all have both baths and showers.
The service was as lovely as the pub; relaxed, very friendly, and very accommodating. They seemed genuinely pleased that we clearly all loved our meal!
Rooms
There are five guest bedrooms at the pub, all are en-suite, and all are unique, which rather adds to the charm. The character was in abundance with different levels of an uneven floor, huge oak beams, exposed brick walls, and low ceilings in parts; our children would quite happily have explored every corridor and every room given a chance! The rooms are beautifully decorated, too, at once nodding to the heritage building but with up-to-date twists and touches. Very Instagrammable, basically. Helpful little luxuries such as USB charging ports, thick fluffy robes, and complimentary hand sanitizer were greatly appreciated.
Best Rooms
We stayed in Heythrop Room, which had beautiful wallpaper, a very comfortable bed, and a stunning vast bathroom with both a standalone rolltop bath and a separate, large enclosed rain shower. Some of the other rooms offer garden views, which I’m sure are wonderful, but our view of the village looking down to the church beyond we found quite delightful. You can check out several images of each room on their website, which is very useful when selecting your room.
Food & Drink
The food served at The Crown Inn was a real treat. This is proper English pub food, with a wide menu featuring both the Classics and more contemporary Specials as well. Ingredients are mainly sourced from local suppliers with an emphasis on seasonal flavors too. I couldn’t resist the Homemade Chicken Pie, and I was not disappointed; exceptional pastry with a delectable filling. The accompanying chips were amazing too!
The breakfast was also impressive, and the generous helping of Sourdough toast nevertheless required several repeat orders. My partner decided on the Vegetarian breakfast, which included a huge hash brown like no other and an amazing spicy bean fritter. My description most definitely does not do justice! Suffice to say, more repeat orders were needed. I imagine this is a frequent occurrence at The Crown Inn with food this good.
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