Artist Residence Oxfordshire
Country pub redub
Dreaming shires
At first glance, boutique hotel the Artist Residence Oxfordshire (formerly famed drinkery the Masons Arms) looks like your typical English idyll, set in a leafy village close to the city’s famed centres of academia, with not a straw of its thatched roof out of place. However, on the inside, the original inglenook fireplace and flagstone floors clash happily with House of Hackney wallpapers, Andy Doig’s neon signs and pulp mash-ups by the Connor Brothers. They’ve not meddled too much with the formula: sacrosanct pub features (excellent grub, a sturdy supply of local ales and a pervading cosiness) remain.
Facilities
Rooms
Nine, including two suites.
Checkout
11am, but flexible, subject to availability. Check-in from 3pm to midnight Monday to Saturday (until 11pm on Sunday). Later check-in can be arranged on request.
More Details
Rates usually exclude breakfast; à la carte options start at £4, and a Full English is £12.50.
Also
The restaurant and pub are wheelchair-accessible; however, the historic building doesn’t allow for a lift to the bedrooms on the first floor.
Free Internet Access
On-Site Restaurant
Room Service
At the Hotel
Expansive grounds, a herb and vegetable patch, free WiFi throughout. In rooms: flatscreen TV, Roberts DAB radio, minibar stocked with local goodies, Nespresso coffee machine and tea-making kit, and Bramley bath products.
Our Favourite Rooms
The hay’s been cleared, but the Farmhouse Lofts have kept an air of rustic romance. They’re set under the eaves, with original wooden beams and flooring, and furnished with a mish-mash of antiques, up-to-the-minute artwork, old-school rugs and Morris & Co fabrics, which somehow work when thrown together – such is the eye of talented owners Charlie and Justin. We’d also like to take a lengthy soak in the Farmhouse Suite’s cool copper bath tub.
Packing Tips
Rather than khaki Hunters and waxed jackets, opt for some of the more outlandish Wellie colours and and a parka that’ll stand out amid the greenery.
Also
The pub has a fascinating history, from the moment the lord and lady of Eynsham Hall bestowed it to their butler – as you do – to more modern times, when it had its own helipad, earned the favour of Marco Pierre White.
Children
Welcome. All rooms except The Shepherds Hut and Rabbit Hole can fit a baby cot (free, bedding isn't supplied) and an extra bed (£30 a night) can be added to some rooms.
Gallery
Food & Drink
Top Table
Pile into a banquette or get cosy in a battered-leather armchair by the pub’s fireplace.
Dress Code
Country radical.
Hotel Restaurant
The Mason Arms is a cosmopolitan gathering space in the countryside, with a cosy dining room lined with pink-velvet banquettes and hung with vintage photos. and a larger hangout spot with artfully worn armchairs and cosy sofas to curl up on where you can dine in casual fashion. There's a smattering of tables throughout the bar area too, and alfresco dining during summer months, but wherever you're seated you'll be wowed by the food, which is crafted from local produce (some veggies come from the garden). Snack on smoked haddock Scotch eggs and curry mayo, fuel up on a classic fish and chips combo, or head chef Gareth's famous grilled Cornish lobster with lemon and garlic butter.
Hotel Bar
The Mason Arms pub looks like the living room of a globetrotting time-traveller; original mahogany pews and panelling mingle with William Morris wallpapers and quirky fabrics by Andrew Martin. Dan Hillier’s gold-leaf-flecked stag presides over the space, Andy Doig’s light sculpture adds a shock of neon and gardening tools rub elbows with fairground ephemera. It may all look a bit surreal after a few of the local beers that flow freely here – or a fitting round of G&Ts – but it’ll attract more than one man and his dog. Drinks can also be taken in the laidback beer garden, ideal for sundowners.
Last Orders
Breakfast is served from 8am to 10.30am (earlier if needed); the restaurant is open for lunch from noon to 2:30pm Monday to Friday, till 3pm on weekends; dining in the pub and restaurant runs from 6pm to 9.00pm.
Room Service
You can have anything from the dining room’s menu served to your room during restaurant hours.
Planes
International airport London Heathrow is a 90-minute drive from the hotel; Gatwick is around a two-and-a-half-hour drive away. Flights arrive at these hubs from all over the world. Call our Smith24 team of travel experts to book flights and transfers.
Trains
Oxford Railway Station is a half-hour drive away. Trains arrive direct from Marylebone and Paddington in London (around an hour’s journey). Closer still, a 15-minute drive from the hotel, is Hanborough Station; trains arrive here direct from London Paddington in around an hour.
Automobiles
Oxford’s classically good-looking streets are lovely to stroll along, but if you plan to village-hop in the Cotswolds and take country drives through some of the UK’s leafiest, loveliest bits, pick up four wheels. Smith24 can arrange car hire for you on request. There’s free parking at the hotel.
Worth Getting Out of Bed For
Filled with some of the world’s finest minds, and some very grand architecture, Oxford is well worth a visit; it’s just a 30-minute drive from the hotel. Aside from craning your neck up at the dreaming spires, nose around the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology and the curiosities at the Pitt Rivers Museum. Museum-dodgers can hire a punt for an hour or the whole day at Magdalen Bridge Boathouse and drift along the River Cherwell. Beginners might want to hire a chauffeur: the pole requires more pump-action than you’d think. Churchill’s family home, Blenheim Palace is a 20-minute drive away; take a tour of its Baroque, gilded and marble-lined state rooms. The hotel sits at the edge of the Cotswolds, so the area’s cluster of charming villages can be easily explored by car. For low-key thrills, ask the staff to map out a ramble for you in the nearby countryside. In August, pitch up to the free-spirited Wilderness Festival in Cornbury Park.
Earn or Redeem Points with World of Hyatt
This Mr & Mrs Smith hotel participates in the World of Hyatt loyalty program. As a member, you can earn and redeem points and enjoy exclusive benefits for qualifying nights. .
