Avril and decided to celebrate our first anniversary with a trip around a few pubs, taking advantage of some clement weather on a very pleasant late Summer Saturday. A drive to the far end of the proposed crawl was undertaken which took us to the Blue Boar in Temple Grafton. This is quite a nice pub on a quiet crossroads. The had three beers on although two of them were Banks' and not really my thing. They had something like Pedigree on though which was pretty good, as was the food that we had outside. A decent place for a lunchtime although it has been known to fill with loud sorts in the evenings and the food can be slower.

On the main road is the Stag at Red Hill, Temple Grafton. Although it is on the main road, if you sit with your back to the traffic, you get some quite nice views. This is what we decided to do and in the end spent about an hour there. I didn't really pay much attention to the interior of the pub but apparently it is reported from a subsequent visit to be nicer than I had first thought. They had a couple of real beers on too.

A pub of magnificent Olde Worlde proportions is the Fleece at Bretforton just outside Evesham which was our next stop. It makes the Falkland Arms at Great Tew look like a council estate pub. his pub is owned by the National Trust and has loads of nooks and crannies and low beams. There is some sort of Stuart dining set in one of the rooms. They also have a wonderful massive garden about the size of a football pitch, and a barn that has beer pumped into it. At the time of our visit they had 6-8 interesting beers on (Purity, Warwickshire Godiva, Hook Norton Best Bitter, Ansells Bitter, Uley Pigs Ear, etc). There was also a good selection of fruit wines and an array of snacks that one would expect at a place like this. We stayed a bit longer to soak up their atmosphere which was well worth it, and reluctantly moved on. Do go and visit the place; their website is here.

It was now early evening and we decided to begin heading for home. A very scenic drive followed, broken conveniently by the Horse and Groom on a steep and twisty part of the main road on the edge of Bourton-on-the-Hill. It has been renovated quite recently and does have that look of quite a trendy light and airy pub about it. However, they do keep an interesting few ales on and in decent condition, and even though a little pricey, are well worth it if you can find yourself a nice spot in their garden that affords some very good views. The food menu did actually look quite tempting but as we were not hungry at that point we did not get the chance to sample. There appeared also to be a nice selection of wine for those that like that sort of thing with their meal.

The next stop was the Mason's Arms at Swerford that Avril had remembered after being forced to take a detour on her way home a few days earlier. This place has a different setting, being much more open, but similar vibe to the Horse and Groom, in that it is a little bit trendy. The selection of beer was not quite as side or extensive as the Horse and Groom either (Hook Norton Best maybe?) but nonetheless tasted good. Full marks to them too for keeping the pub open for customers despite there being a wedding and a leaving do or similar going on that evening. We sat in their very large beer garden with yet again a quite good view as the sun began to set. The functions did however mean that there was no food on and so we had to go to the Duck on the Pond at South Newington for dinner. From the outside, this place looks extremely quaint. It is perhaps not quite so when you get in but that doesn't mean to say that it's not a good boozer. The Beer in the Evening website had warned of expensive dinners, but in the end we stuck with something traditional and it was actually pretty good and at a reasonable price, as we sat in the twilight eating it! The ale selection was also pretty good, tasted OK and a spot cheaper than the last two pubs. It was also quite busy in there with lots of families having 'Saturday evening out' meals which is the kind of thing that you would expect somewhere a little less rural. And finally, they do indeed have a fenced off duck pond which, as it was getting late and a little cool, meant that there was nobody there to interrupt the decent views over that.