The Five Alls, Filkins, Lechlade, Gloucestershire

The Cotswolds is one of the most beautiful parts of England and is a delightful area to visit at any time of the year. Its rolling hills and woodlands give shelter to chocolate – box thatched medieval stone-built villages, fine looking historical towns, outstanding churches, stately homes and stunning gardens. Many unique features originate from the use of the distinctive Cotswold honey – coloured Jurassic limestone.

Encompassing an area across six counties, most notably Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, the Cotswolds includes many beautiful towns & villages such as the picture-postcard village of Filkins, Lechlade, Oxfordshire. Filkins is a village in the civil parish of Filkins & Broughton Poggs, in the county of Oxfordshire, very close to the Gloucestershire border. It is about 2.5 miles (4 km) southwest of Carterton.

The Pub:

I was invited to spend the weekend at the recently refurbished seventeenth century, village pub & restaurant, with rooms, the Five Alls, the meaning of whose odd name is told in its resplendent inn-sign. The King at the centre, who rules all, a Lawyer who pleads for all, a Bishop who prays for all, a Soldier who fights for all, and a Farmer who works for all.

New owner & restaurateur Tom Downing brings 20 years of experience in hospitality to the Five Alls, having previously managed The Crazy Bear Hotel & Restaurant,  Stadhampton for 12 years. Tom moved to the Five Alls in February 2024, and since taking over, has overseen the recent refurbishment of the pub’s nine rooms and public spaces. Tom has helped re-establish the Five Alls long – held reputation for fine dining, producing dishes which demonstrates their kitchen teams fine culinary skills, flair and imagination.

I’m so excited to be running this gorgeous place and am planning to put all those years of learning, experience and passion for my craft into delivering and exceeding guest expectations every time. I am thrilled to be working alongside general manager, Robert Wilks, who has over 15 years’ hospitality experience. Robert’s attention to detail and guest care is exemplary and with his help we have a well-trained team who genuinely care and enjoy working at the Five Alls and have the ability to deliver guest satisfaction and value for money. Tom Downing

A beautiful and charmingly restored 18th century, ivy-clad Cotswold stone coaching inn and boutique retreat with nine rooms, Five Alls also retains its vital role as a cosy and  welcoming village local.

The Bar:

Packed with history and character, the Five Alls offers a light and airy drinking area and from behind the Cotswold stone bar, customers can choose from an excellent range of 40 carefully selected bottles of wine, sparkling wines and champagnes, with 20 available by the glass, alongside an extensive selection of locally produced craft ales and guest beers. Bar snacks include Mac and cheddar cheese bites, crispy olives, popcorn chicken and homemade focaccia. During the evening I noticed several people come in from the village, not only to eat in the restaurant but to sit and enjoy a drink with friends at the bar or out in the large pub garden. It is obviously still very much a local for the community as well as a fine place to eat. The bar, lounge & sun terrace are ideal spots for enjoying a drink, reading a newspaper or scrolling through your phone! A further lounge area lies on one side of an Alpine-style snug with unique leather chesterfields and chairs edging a huge inglenook fireplace with log fires burning daily during the winter months.

The Restaurant:

The dining room in which we enjoyed our evening meals & breakfasts, is one of two light and airy, oak-beamed dining rooms seating up to 100 covers, one of which is available for private dining options. The menu offered a choice of six starters, Tomato & Mozzarella salad, Falafel humus & pomegranate, Scotch egg with curried mayonnaise & crispy duck salad. My wife & I chose the remaining two options. There were six choices for the mains & desserts for my wife & I to choose, from the menu.

Starters:

Lightly smoked trout pate, citrus, honey & sourdough toast

Cod fishcake & tartar sauce

Mains:

30 day dry roast rump of beef.

Roast rolled belly local pork, apple sauce & crackling.

Both of our mains were served with seasonal vegetables, cauliflower cheese, roast potatoes & Yorkshire pudding

Desserts:

Chocolate Tart & Raspberry Cream

Roasted Pineapple, Mango Sorbet & Coconut Biscuit

We were presented with a mountain of food! We really couldn’t finish off the yorkies! The rich gravy sauce was simply wonderful, we were even given an extra boat of sauce, which we hadn’t asked for, but appreciated. The roast vegetables, cauliflower cheese, broccoli  & diced cabbage was a real delight. They added to the dishes. Table service was excellent, a quick shout out to Cecelia, who was fantastic. She took the time to find out about us, offering stories about the village & local area and simply making my wife & I feel very welcome. The roasted pineapple was a pleasant surprise! Served with a small ball of mango sorbet & grated coconut, it was a very special dish, which I shall definitely try again, if I come across it on a dessert menu.

I must admit to trying some of my wife’s meal too and I thought both were beautifully cooked and presented to the table. Our dining experience in the restaurant was one to remember, not least because of the staff who were all exceptionally welcoming and helpful with humour & genuine conversation. The Award-winning food combined with the personal and attentive service helped create a superb dining experience. After our meal we retreated to the comfortable lounge area to enjoy a quiet coffee, which was a very pleasant space in which to end a wonderful evening.

Newly appointed head chef, Romanian Lucian Juganaru, is ensuring that his well-considered seasonally changing, à la carte and set menus celebrate the very best seasonal ingredients found locally and from around the UK, including fresh daily fish deliveries from Brixham, Devon. Vegetarian and vegan options are available on every menu and there’s also an all-day bar snacks menu and a dedicated children’s menu too.

Tom has introduced a new partnership with Bibury trout farm to produce a tasting menu with other produce from within a 20-mile radius alongside regular events such as Fish & Chips and Burger Night every Wednesday throughout May, a Harvest Fair, live music by local villagers and has also teamed up with Filkins village hall to offer special Family Days. On the weekend I visited, my wife & I were invited to join the new monthly pub quiz! It was a fantastic evening; we were welcomed by the local village community with open arms! We came very close to winning too! Thank you Trish, Jill, Claire & Rob, my team quiz team colleagues.

Dogs are welcome in the bar and dining areas and there are two dog-friendly rooms for an extra £20 a night per dog, and which includes a happy dog hamper of dog bites, enrichment cards, adios poo bags and Earl Grey Hound (tea for dogs). Treats on the bar include rabbit, venison and boar chews.

Breakfast was well worth getting up for, the menu listed a wide choice of options including the Five Alls Full English and the very popular bubble and squeak which included streaky bacon and fried eggs. Needless to say, both options were very well presented & delicious! I opted for the full English Breakfast, served with hot toast, which I was pleased to see arrived when the breakfast was served. My wife was very happy with her Bubble ‘n’ Squeak, accompanied with a slice of toast and we enjoyed lashings of Hot Tea & Coffee, as much as we could handle, ensured it was a great way to start our day.

The Rooms:

Above the pub, four en-suite rooms with two King-size and two double bedrooms with a further five, cottage-style rooms, all en-suite, with super King-size beds, at the rear of the pub garden & terrace. I was lucky enough to be staying in one of their cottage rooms. It was a beautiful room, very spacious and bright. The bathroom too was spacious with an incredible walk in shower. Our room was simply wonderful. Safe & secure car parking was available right outside our cottage room.

All nine of the stylish and comfortable bedrooms have been given a complete refresh. They are simply decorated in a calming neutral palette with bursts of colour. Some touches of luxury include fine Egyptian cotton linen, duck down duvets, toiletries by Noble Isle, a Flat Screen television and the obligatory, fast complimentary wireless access.

Add to all of this, thick all-wool carpets, vintage furniture, local interest books & guides, Nespresso coffee machine, a smart & very practical mini fridge containing fresh milk & bottled water plus a stylish Roberts radio. The high spec limestone tiled bathroom & luxurious, walk-in shower ensured I had everything I needed for a weekend stay at the Five Alls.

The pubs charm & character is enhanced throughout with several restored & original features such as the rendered Cotswold stone walls, flagstone or oak floors, inglenook fireplace, exposed oak beams and Georgian sash windows, which complement the Cotswolds chic décor to create cosy, welcoming and stylish interiors. Original works of contemporary art decorate walls alongside some quirkier touches such as antique gramophone speakers upcycled as pendant lights in the main bar, alongside antique kilims, Ikat cushions, linen curtains and Roman blinds.

The Village & Environs:

Filkins is situated midway between the gorgeous Cotswolds village of Burford, with its fine high street and independent shops, Cotswold Wildlife Park and Burford Garden Centre, while Lechlade, also offers good, independent shopping & kayak hire for exploring the Thames. Nearby you can visit, Uffington’s White Horse and Iron Age Fort, Kelmscott Manor, once the home of William Morris, the Thames Path, Buscot Park , chocolate-box Bibury. The university city of Oxford & Blenheim Palace are about 20 miles away.

There were originally three more pubs in the village, the Fox Inn, the Lamb and the Bull. The village has an outdoor swimming pool, post office, bowls club, theatre club and the former village school which closed in 1981, with only fifteen pupils on roll, is now a pre-school private nursery. The village shop is owned and run by the local community selling local meats, cheeses, honey, and membership to the outdoor swimming pool next door!

A short walk from the Five Alls is an historic mill, museum and shop. There is a large 18th-century church like barn called Bridal Barn (or Barley Barn), in which village weddings were occasionally held. It is now the premises of Cotswold Woollen Weavers, which set up business in 1982 as a working mill. It is the last company in the area to uphold the traditions of woollen cloth design and manufacture, where cloth is produced in traditional patterns on old looms & is well worth a visit.

The Filkins Stone Company is also situated on the site. Stonemason Simon Brittain has worked with stone all his life and is happy to share his extensive knowledge of the ancient craft of stonemasonry. Why not check out one of his taster days! One of the principal sources of building stone in Oxfordshire was the Forest Marble, beds of clays and limestone which vary in thickness up to a foot. The thicker beds are used as hardstone for walls and the thinner ones for paving stones and roof tiles. The quality is such that Filkins stone has been used for several public buildings & colleges in the university cities of Oxford and Cambridge. Many of the buildings in Filkins and Broughton Poggs are built and tiled with this stone. I noticed that some of the big, quarried stone “slats” are used as fencing in several places around the village.

The Swinford Museum is one of Oxfordshire’s oldest small rural museums, housed in a 17th-century cottage with a fine collection of local domestic, agricultural, trade and craft tools providing a unique picture of a bygone rural community.

So, what can you expect when you visit The Five Alls? I would not hesitate to recommend the Five Alls if you are planning to visit the Cotswolds or simply passing through Lechlade or Burford. Why not stop and experience their superb food and hospitality. The overall Five Alls experience was extremely enjoyable and satisfying. All of the staff whether on reception, serving at table or at the bar presented a smart, professional, and efficient service. The pub offers excellent overnight accommodation options, superb restaurant meals and excellent table service in a glorious location. Manager Rob could not have done anything more to ensure our stay was as comfortable as possible.

 I would urge you to check out the Five Alls at the earliest opportunity. You will not be disappointed!

The Five Alls , Filkins, Lechlade, Gloucestershire, GL7 3JQ, UK

Reservations – 01367 860875  enquiries@thefiveallsfilkins.co.uk

Disclosure: My visit to The Five Alls was courtesy of Tom Downing & Robert Wilks for bridgetstott@btinternet.com

The views and comments expressed are as usual my own.