It's funny how some areas of the country are black holes when it comes to eating out. Where I used to live in St Albans was mysteriously bereft of good restaurants and seems like the area to the south-west of Oxford is too. So we were relieved to find what looked like a decent pitstop called The Trout in the Wind-in-the Willows-esque hamlet of Tadpole Bridge, a place so obscure it wasn't even listed in the index of our massively detailed Philips Navigator road atlas. And needless to say it defeated the sat nav.
We'd have probably given up if the website hadn't revealed they had a Sausage Club on Thursdays, a sound enough reason to visit any pub. It didn't quite live up to its billing which listed a menu of six different sausages matched with different wines and beers but it was still pretty good. A choice of three sausages (Gloucestershire, pork and apple and pork and chilli) with three kinds of mash (spring onion, sundried tomato and black pudding - the latter much nicer than it sounds).
The situation is also idyllic right at the source of the Thames with a picturesque bridge (above) and a few swans sailing by. There's no sign at the end of the road (the A420 from Swindon to Oxford) which means it's not overcrowded. I suspect most of the clientele are locals. They certainly have some interesting cars.
Apparently it has a few rooms which would make it a nice getaway for a quiet weekend with a maybe a hop into Oxford for a bit of shopping. Less touristy than the Cotswolds anyway.
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