The Waggon & Horses, Marlborough

A very attractive looking stone built pub dating from 1669, it’s a good sized with a thatched roof, including a separate section of thatch over the entrance porch, leaded windows and with a few picnic benches and umbrellas out the front it certainly looked extremely inviting. It was then slightly disappointing when we got inside to find that it had clearly been renovated at some point and didn’t have quite the cosy olde worlde charm that I had hoped for. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, it’s pleasant enough, but the inside certainly doesn’t live up to what one would expect from looking at the outside. It’s divided in to three of four different rooms, although opened out to some extent so you can just walk from one to the other. Some partitioning made from wooden planks has been installed in places to segregate some of the space further. Flooring is some sort of dark wooden boards that have been worn smooth over the years along with a hessian style carpet to the left, whilst a couple of chunky black beams on the ceiling were liberally adorned with bunches of hops. Dark green wood panelling clad the lower part of the walls with pale green paintwork above. An old stone fireplace off to one side contained a wood burning stove, and there was another brick fireplace in one of the side rooms. Seating was mostly regular tables and chairs along with the odd church pew or two. All manner of bits and pieces were scattered around such as copper jugs, kettles, pans and various farming implements including a saddle and stirrups. So, on the face of it, all the ingredients of a fine old country inn. It’s just that the décor didn’t really match this and the various knick-knacks all felt as though they’d been thoughtfully selected and placed there as vital ingredients in a pub, rather than just evolving naturally. An exception to this perhaps was an unusual rows of small drawers above the bar counter which were all labelled up with names of medicinal herbal remedies. Food seemed to feature quite prominently with several waitresses milling around and a carvery counter being set up in one of the side rooms. Beers on tap were all from Wadworth’s with their 6X, Henry’s IPA, Horizon and Red. Ciders were well represented with Thatcher’s Gold, Stowford Press, Stowford Mixed Berry, Broadoak Moonshine and Lilley’s Bee Sting still perry.

Official site of The Waggon & Horses - waggonhorsesbeckhampton.co.uk

Official site of The Waggon & Horses - waggonhorsesbeckhampton.co.uk