Stag & Huntsman, Hambleden, HENLEY-ON-THAMES, RG9 6RP [Map]
01491 571227  
11-14:30, 18-23 MO-FR; 11-15, 18-23 SA; 12-15, 19-22:30 SU
Accommodation, Car Park, Evening Meals, Real Fire, Beer Garden, Lunchtime Meals

Me outside the Stag and Huntsman, November 2001

Hambleden's a lovely preserved National Trust village about a mile north of the A4155 a few miles northeast of Henley-on-Thames. Its also on the Chiltern Cycleway and in good 'rambling' country. The pub is still relatively unspoilt and fortunately the pub sterilization team have not discovered this one as yet. It's a great place to escape to for a decent pint of real ale though at weekends it can get very busy soon after opening time. I called in one Sunday lunchtime at around 12.30 and the place was already filled to brimming. But do not be put off visiting. They offer one guest beer along with Wadworth 6X and a local Marlow brewed Rebellion brew. The guest was an excellent, a rather seasonal Halloween brew, 'She Devil.' It went down very well.

It's a pub with many rooms giving you a choice of drinking environments. There's the locals public bar, a small bar at the front behind a curtain and a larger half-panelled lounge bar where we sat. Some folk even ventured outside on the unseasonably mild November lunchtime. It's refreshing to visit an old pub where the owners haven't knocked down all the internal walls creating yet another all-in-one 'super-room.' A country local traditionally had small rooms so I'm certainly one to agree that such places should stay like that. It also allows the pubs to have greater flexibility to perhaps offer music in some areas and not others etc.

They offer a wide ranging menu with roast dinners available on Sunday though by 1pm they were already selling out of some options. The pub deservedly won the local CAMRA Pub of the Year award in 2003.

The Warburg nature reserve, northwest of Hambleden, November 2001