Inside Artist Residence Oxfordshire: a unique take on the traditional country inn
What a charmer. Just opened after a major renovation, here is a thatched country pub, in pastoral surroundings, with five gorgeous bedrooms, wonderful food and a happy, chatty atmosphere.
Best of all, it’s creative, entertaining and different from the norm. I can pop the Artist Residence Oxfordshire into my small but growing collection of country inns that are breaking the Farrow & Ball mould and bringing originality and integrity to the scene. The list includes The Gunton Arms, Norfolk; The Talbot Inn, Somerset; The Gurnard’s Head, Cornwall; and The Mash Inn, Buckinghamshire. These places are more than restaurants masquerading as country pubs.
Privately owned and imaginatively run, they are such fun and yet so genuine that both food producers looking for an outlet and local residents looking for a hub are drawn to them. The owners of Artist Residence Oxfordshire are Justin and Charlie (Charlotte) Salisbury. With its beams and wooden bar and settles, flagstone floors and open hearths, the 16th-century inn has plenty of original character, now enhanced by the use of William Morris and House of Hackney wallpapers, colourful rugs and kelim cushions as well as curious artworks by the Connor Brothers, neon works by Andy Doig, a divine grocery cupboard by felt artist Lucy Sparrow and penguins standing sentinel at the door.
The Connor Brothers also came up with a fictional previous owner of the inn, Mr Hanbury, whose “portrait” hangs behind the bar and who lends his name to a second title for the property, Mr Hanbury’s Mason Arms. This is unnecessarily confusing, especially as the previous real-life owner of the pub is a well-known character whose eccentric Gerry Stonhill’s Individual Mason Arms, as it was titled, was beloved of Marco Pierre White, Raymond Blanc and others until it closed in 2013.
Forget Mr Hanbury. Justin and Charlie’s bedrooms are heavenly, full of art show and antique fair finds and reclaimed furniture, rustic yet sophisticated, with lovely Volga linens on deep beds. The Farmhouse Suite, with copper bath, was a beamed bolt-hole I never wanted to leave. And the food from young chef Leon Smith is rather like the rooms; rustic yet sophisticated, foraged and sourced from local producers and very good indeed. The pub menu should be less cheffy and more pubby, though.
In short, Justin and Charlie have done it again. In 2008 when he was 20, Justin took on his mother’s guesthouse in Brighton. Now, nine years later, he and Charlie have four Artist Residences, in Brighton, Penzance, London and here, with a major restoration project in Bristol. Having met at university, they are now parents to 18-month-old Blake. How they cope I know not, except that their burgeoning group has grown up as naturally as they have.
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All the Artist Residences have their owners’ decorative stamp on them, but all are very different. The art theme, begun in Brighton when Justin got young artists to adorn the bedrooms, has rather disappeared. Yes, there’s art, but there is in most hotels. Rather, they are four special places in four dissimilar locations and the Artist Residence Oxfordshire – or Mr Hanbury’s Mason Arms if you must – is my favourite.
Station Road, South Leigh, OX29 6XN (01993 656220; artistresidenceoxford.co.uk). Doubles from £130 per night, including breakfast. Not suitable for guests using wheelchairs.
