My partner and I recently travelled to Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire, or Chipping Nortski as my partner likes to call it. It proved to be an interesting day out.
It began ordinarily enough, having encountered no turbulence during our journey there. The first pub we visited, was The Chequers which at the time of visiting, was surrounded by scaffolding, So I didn't photograph the pub on this occasion. Before we entered the pub, we noticed some activity in Market Street. There was a camera crew and some vintage auto mobiles in the street. We watched the activity for a while, and tried not to get in the way.
My partner asked one of the people who was conducting traffic along the street, what was going on. Apparently some scenes were being filmed for the BBC1 TV series Father Brown, starring Mark Williams. He is probably best known for his portrayal of Mr Weasley in the Harry Potter films, and The Fast Show. But being a fan of Red Dwarf, I fondly remember him as Petersen, a crew member in the early episodes of the show. As were were waiting for the pubs to open, we walked away from the activity in Market Street.
Our first port of call, was The Red Lion – or “The Red” as the locals call it. Which is a small traditional pub in Albion Street, just off the centre of Chipping Norton. The pub was closed, but we discovered The Shack, which is a small food outlet in the beer garden of the Red Lion. We perused the menu, and opted for some toasted cheese and tuna melts and tea, which was quite nice.
After our lunch, we walked back to the Chequers, we had another look at the filming that was still going on. We edged closer and closer with our camera phones, until we were in touching distance of some of the film crew, and just opposite us was Mark Williams preparing to film a scene. I took some photos, my partner lent me his phone which is infinity better because it has a widescreen facility. I was exceedingly grateful to him. It was at this point that I realised what a nightmare location filming can be. The general public can be a nuisance getting in the way of filming important scenes. I was only a bystander, but I can appreciate how stressful filming can be. Bearing this in mind, we left and walked towards The Chequers.
I was quite impressed with the interior of the Chequers, which is a Youngs pub. It has a charming olde worlde quality about it, with it's heritage painted walls, and cosy fireplace. There were quite a few hand pulls at the bar, but my partner was not impressed with the quality of the ale. He said it was too cold – he should know, he is a real ale enthusiast.
For these reasons, we didn't stay long at the Chequers, we walked towards The Fox, which is a hotel and pub. The Fox was the most surprising place that we visited. I was a little put off by the modern interior, and low level background music. But my reservations were eased when we went to the outside area. Some of the locals and a member of staff were chatting, they were humorous and friendly. The walls of the beer garden, (which was more of a passage way with seating), were adorned with old Hook Norton pub signs. A few of the pubs are still open, but sadly most of them have closed.
After our visit to the Fox, we boarded the coach back to Cheltenham, but we stopped off at Bourton-On-The-Water, which has become a favourite destination of ours. We ended up at the Old Manse Hotel, which is a Greene King pub. My partner had the best pint of the day, we sat in the beer garden and enjoyed the beautiful spring weather. It was the perfect end, to a fascinating day.
