please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
An upmarket and quite ridiculously beautiful village is served by a pretty pub and a nice garden. Yes, you should expect Hackett tops and people who voted Tory while the music – blaring dance tunes at full volume – in the bar was presumably chosen by the bored youths on the till. Food options looked good while the Brakspear offerings on tap were well kept. Only half a mile or so’s walk along a shaded path from Fingest where there is another lovely outside seating area.
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Returned here after our disappointing experience in Feb 2012 (see prior reviews) to see if things had improved - and they have. The place was full inside and out on this glorious bank holiday Monday but the staffing was ramped up to cope - service was friendly and attentive. Unlike last time our drink and food orders were taken promptly at the table, and the food was just a little long in coming - about 25 mins for our party of 9. We had most of the dishes and they were all good to excellent (the "hand raised" (sic) beef and ale pie with pepper mash being particularly good. Really pleased to have given the B&B a second chance.
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Smashing little characterful pub - the Brakspear's Bitter and Oxford Gold were still available as they were in August but the Wychwood offering this time was Dog's Boll*cks. Friendly, helpful chap behind the bar.
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I expected this to be an upmarket village pub with pricey beer and food with a lot of very well spoken people sitting at reserved tables.
And it was.
But that doesn't tell the whole story. The pub is quite small with a large seating area outside, so I can imagine that at busy times it does get crowded. Beer was on the pricier side but I've had more expensive. They were serving Brakspears Bitter and Oxford Gold together with Wychwood Bountiful, which I hadn't had before and was impressed with.
The food was quite costly - Fish & Chips, Burger and Chips or Steak Pie with veg all weighed in at �12.50. But then I didn't expect it to be cheap - pubs north of Henley just aren't, so go prepared. And all three meals were very hot and very good. No complaints there.
The guy who served us was very attentive and efficient. So all in all, the Bull and Butcher, despite being what I expected, was actually quite good.
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set in one of the most idyllic villages ive havd the pleasure of walking into, this old pub looks wonderful inside and out. on a sunny sunday afternoon it was full to the point of being almost uncomfortable. but, i guess this is not really a negative as its a testiment to the popularity.
food was hit and miss though . one dish superb, other dish actually awfull.
all the oxfordshire breakspear beers were really nice, and the service was great, especially considering how busy they were. definalty visit again.
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Lunched here today as a party of 12 walkers ... Beautiful setting as noted below and friendly staff. However this pub is definitely a victim of the "no need to try" syndrome ... With heavy traffic guaranteed every weekend because of the location why bother to (a) staff up to guarantee efficient service (b) give the chef the time and ingredients to produce quality meals or (c) look after the beer properly? We booked in advance and had to wait 20 minutes for drinks and then another 50 minutes for our (Pre-ordered) meal �...other customers around us plainly suffering from the same, with tempers getting a bit heated. The Sunday lunch, when it finally came (in dribs and drabs - always infuriating) was OK but nothing special at all, and the Oxford Gold was cold and tasted thin. A real shame for what could be a really lovely pub experience in a superb part of the English countryside.
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Visited on Saturday 5 March and Thursday 10 March and Saturday April 23 with Mrs Monk. The first two visits on the journey to and from our break in the Cotswolds. Excellent Brakspear�s ales + guest with a very good food menu which is reasonably priced. Brakspear�s Bitter was excellent on each visit, and the Oxford Gold was pretty good in April. Booking recommended. Didn�t know it at the time (we picked it as a convenient M40 stop off from the GBG) but the village is used as the set of the Vicar of Dibley and our favourite programme Midsomer Murders (Straw Woman was filmed there) also the windmill on the hill is in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Set in a lovely village which gets very busy and this pub must be a goldmine. Generally friendly and very efficient staff, though must mention as a negative point the rather haughty and supercilious young female serving who almost demanded a gratuity on top of the bill. 7.5/10
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Needs to offer good value for money food and address the customer politely. Shame that the lovely interior is spoiled by the staff attitude (alright, so you've stopped serving food at 4pm, don't bite my head off woman).
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Sadly this traditional pub is a victim of the village's popularity as home to the Vicar of Dibley. Fine if you can get there for a pint of Brakspear on a weekday, but avoid the scrum at the bar on sunny weekends when the place is besieged by visitors.
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Nice enough pub but the toilets (although clean) absolutely stank. You tend to forget the good points about a place when something like that occurs.
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Very pretty pub in great location. Friendly staff. Our round of drinks came to an unexpectedly pricey sum, but there's a good choice of food at lunchtime. Get there early though - it gets very busy. We walked up to the windmill afterwards (now a private residence) and watched the red kites flying over the village.
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In beautiful and very popular walking country, but since the village has become such a tourist attraction, the pub has gone a tad too upmarket in the selection and pricing of its food to provide a proper �ramblers� lunch�. I agree with Harry (May 2004): other rural pubs (if you can still find them) need our business more urgently.
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Took some friends to see the TV sights in the village on a sunny Friday lunchtime in September followed by lunch here. Pleasant service, food OK and real ale nice. By then time we left the place was packed.
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Very nice pub for such a tiny village in the middle of nowhere with no reason to pass through...except the aforementioned tv/movie associations. But my wife and i were glad we came anyhow. It's a beautiful spot. Quite peaceful. And oh yes, the pub...i had a decent Hook Norton Mild, the chocolate brioche pudding was tasty. They only just need to get that sidedoor fixed so it doesn't slam shut.
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I can see what Pete meant about people only coming here for the media connections. I bet Mr Wright took a few pictures so he could show them off to his mates.
Go to more pubs in different villages, and less decent village pubs will be shutting - like the White Hart in Northend did. There's a lot out there!
Harry - 13 May 2004 12:19 |
A pleasure to walk around this very unspoiled English village in peace and quiet - and smile to yourself at every corner as you recall the extremely funny situations from the Vicar of Dibley. Oh yes the Bull and Butcher is great too with good food - 10/10
John Wright - 5 May 2004 16:16 |
The Bull and Butcher is a quintessentially English pub, nestled between the Chiltern Hills, in the quaint village of Turville. High quality, traditional British pub food, real ale, and local chat is all maintained at the Bull and Butcher. The stunning scenery incorporates the �Chitty Chitty Bang Bang� windmill perched on top of a steep ridge overlooking Turville. St. Mary the Virgin Church achieved its fame in the �Vicar of Dibley�, which was based on Turville village and its inhabitants! �Good Night Mr. Tom� was also filmed in the village as are many of the �Midsomer Murders� episodes.
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Lovely location for a very nice pub. Becoming more of a foody place since the extension was added. But this isn't a surprise - a lot of londoners come out at weekends to say 'ooooh look, vicar of dibley/goodnight mr tom/chitty chitty bang bang [delete where applicable]. But it's nice for all that - just a lot better on a monday night say.
pete - 21 Oct 2003 12:24 |
