- One to Watch 2025
Since arriving at the White Hart in 2005, husband and wife team Mark and Kay Chandler have restored this 15th century pub to its former glory.
It is situated in the picturesque Oxfordshire village of Fyfield near Abingdon. According to Historic England the pub was originally built as almshouses for the poor.
From the vaulted ceiling to the flagstone floors, the unique space is steeped in history and is well-known for serving award-winning, locally-sourced food.
The White Hart offers modern British dining with Mark doing the cooking and tending the kitchen garden while Kay heads up the front of house team and manages the business.
The White Hart has a grow-your-own, buy-local ethos which means they grow lots of their own produce, support local suppliers and keep their carbon footprint low.
Creative dishes on the menu have included 12 hour slow-cooked belly of Kelmscott pork, parmentier potato, apple, celeriac, carrot, crackling, cider; Guinness glazed celeriac, braised fennel, orange and thyme compote, salty fingers, beurre blanc and 28-day dry aged Oxfordshire sirloin, shallot, chips, spring greens, mixed peppercorn sauce.
There is a Wednesday dinner club with a set menu and a bottle of wine per couple which offers items such as goats cheese mousse, roasted figs, goats cheese bonbon, fresh honeycomb and chargrilled Flat Iron steak, skinny fries, mixed leaf salad, chimichurri butter.
The pub has held two rosettes for culinary excellence for 18 years and the quality, provenance and sustainability of ingredients is at the heart of its ethos.
The pub has won a raft of awards and is featured in the Good Food Guide and the Michelin Guide.
It has been described as a “foodies' paradise” by the Oxford Times and it was also voted by The Independent and Sawday's as one of the Top 50 pubs in England to visit post-lockdown.
