Come for the pizzas, stay for the pause – in one of the bright, contemporary bedrooms at this refurbished honey-stone inn, eight miles from Oxford city centre. Owner George Dailey turned around the fortunes of this roadside pub when he bought it in 2009. Today, it is a popular place, liked by locals for its steaks, pub classics and more modern additions (gin, dill and coriander-cured sea trout, cucumber salad; linguine, toasted hazelnuts, piquillo pepper, morel mushrooms, shaved asparagus). Flagstone floors and 18th-century beams have been preserved; deep leather chairs and a large log fire add character. Each bedroom is provided with tea- and coffee-making facilities and posh toiletries; a bath or a monsoon shower. Blenheim Palace is not far.