First, this was my first visit to Stow-on-the-Wold. We decided to go for a couple of days to a place we’d never been to, have lunch, explore and come home the next day. Looking at some Cotswold villages, I basically did the digital equivalent of sticking a pin blindly onto a map and booked a hotel in the middle of the village.
Stow-on-the-Wold in Gloucestershire, as it turns out, is the opposite of the sleepy, rural village I thought we’d be visiting. Walking around the square, we watched as cars pulled up and American, Spanish and Japanese tourists clambered out with bulging suitcases. A lady we got talking to in the bakery was from Uruguay, while a couple we chatted to in the pub were from Spain. A quick trip to St Edwards Church, famous for having likely inspired The Doors of Durin in Lord of the Rings, soon turned into a long queuing session, waiting to take a photo of the ancient doors in between tourists running up and posing with two fingers in a peace sign, with their tongue sticking out. Later in the evening we returned to find the queue gone and took our own photos until an American couple appeared, with the same idea.
We parked and headed for The Stag, a honey-coloured stone building in the village square, opposite St Edward’s Church. The building today is thought to be mostly Georgian, but parts of it were once a medieval coach house dating to the 1300s. There are two priest holes, too, reminders of Stow’s religious past. As we’d arrived about an hour before check-in we decided to stay for lunch. Both of us had the Fish and Chips and it was hot, beautifully cooked and full of flavour. As I looked around, I saw everything you’d want from an old pub - crooked ceilings and walls, a dimly-lit dining room with comfy cushions and wooden tables. There were even lovely iron (?) candle lanterns on the tables with tea lights burning inside. My husband, undefeated by his generous lunch, decided to have an affogato with a shot of Cotswold Cream (a creamy whisky liqueur a little like Baileys but with more flavour and complexity, less sweet). We’ve bought a bottle to have at home, we loved it so much.
The staff on the reception desk were happy to look after our overnight bags, so we went on a little walk to explore Stow-on-the-Wold. In many ways, it’s like going back in time. There were lovely little bakeries with plump, crisp pain au chocolats in the window and so many old pubs, including The Porch House, which claims to be the oldest pub in England. The market cross still stands in the village, along with a crooked building which is said to date to the fifteenth century. One of the supporting parts of the foundation was forgotten while it was built, and so now it leans a little to one side. While my husband scoffed at medieval craftsmanship, I pointed out that it was a mark of quality even that it’s still standing and in use more than 500 years later.
Back to The Stag, we were shown to our room. Beautifully decorated, with its own bathroom and a big king-sized bed. We loved that there was a kettle for tea and a coffee machine in the room but you had to walk down the stairs to the ground floor to collect fresh milk and drinking water from the fridge there. We often get fed up of those plastic UHT milks while we’re travelling and the waste generated for each dribble of milk, so we thought this was a great move. We did come down in the evening and saw that another guest had stored their four-pack of Stella in the fridge, marking their room number in capital letters on the cardboard sleeve in biro. Did we joke about nicking it? Yes. Did we? No.
Yes, there are creaky steps on the stairs and some low ceilings. But it all adds to the charm of this lovely old inn in one of the Cotswolds’ most historic areas. The staff were amazing, the food was gorgeous and they also had a cocktail menu. We loved that they chose not to add to the mountains of little plastic cups that end up in landfill every day and provided chilled drinking water in glass, reusable bottles. Parking was easy, and we could see our car from our room. The inn might have been welcoming guests since the late 1600s, but the building is thought to be medieval. In many ways it’s modern, caring and trendy, with each of its rooms put together by a local designer, and finished with modern art and what the website calls ‘country chic’. But to stay overnight is to enjoy a piece of history of the beautiful village of Stow and follow in the footsteps of those from centuries past. Highly recommend, and we’d definitely come back if we visited again.
The Stag at Stow didn’t know we would review this, to them we were just a random couple staying over for one night. All opinions are my own. Find out more for yourself: The Stag at Stow, The Market Square, Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, GL54 1AF.
You might also like: The Old Black Bear, Tewkesbury, The Royal Oak, Tilehurst, and Staying Overnight in a Georgian Brewery in Henley-on-Thames.
The Stag stood during an exciting time in our history, the medieval era, the Tudors and the dawn of the Renaissance. Find out more about this period in my book Power Couples of the Renaissance. It features relationship dynamics that went against accepted norms of the period and power-hungry couples who ruled, fought and spread the patronage of art, science and culture across the globe during one of the most tumultuous periods of history. Find it on the Pen and Sword Books website.
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