A Restaurant Worth Travelling To: The Swan, Cotswolds

The concept…

Earlier this year, Sam and Georgie Pearman took over The Swan, a rustic 16th-century inn in Ascott-under-Wychwood in the Cotswolds. Co-founders of The Lucky Onion Hotel Group – which includes No 131 in Cheltenham and The Wheatsheaf in the Cotswolds – the pair’s takeover of The Swan forms part of their new collection of pubs, hotels and restaurants, Country Creatures, which features The Chequers in the Cotswolds and The Talbot, a North Yorkshire coaching inn and restaurant. With a bold new look and a menu to match, we were keen to explore how the duo had transformed this traditional coaching house.

The setting…

Since relaunching the restaurant with rooms in May, Country Creatures has overhauled The Swan’s dishes and redecorated everything from the beer garden to the bedrooms. The inn’s traditional Cotswolds honey stone exterior and wooden beamed interiors have been given a new lease of life via eclectic wallpapers, bright textiles and smatterings of modern art. We especially liked the on-trend forest green accents, which extend from the banquette seating through to the bold patterned wallpaper in the dining room. Outside, the spacious garden has been redesigned by Rachel Murphy and is filled with fire pits, painted wooden planters and more hits of vivid green, which extend to the metal tables and chairs. The al fresco spot also features a wisteria-covered oak pergola and a Cotswold stone outdoor dining space for groups. For larger parties, the oak-beamed feasting room is an atmospheric space which seats 18 around a long, banquet-style table.