If you're a canal enthusiast, you will have heard of Napton, but if not you almost certainly won't...until someone mentions that it's that place in the Warwickshire countryside with a prominent windmill on top of a hill that you can see for miles around.
Fortunately for us, the canal goes around the hill, so it is a flat walk to the pub. The Kings Head has never been one of our 'go to' pubs in Napton, but we may become more frequent visitors now that the good ship Peggy Ellen is moored near by and The Bridge Inn is now closed!
The first time we visited the King's Head was on the evening of Thursday 1st September 1994.
The reason that we ended up here was because we'd stopped quite early and had eaten in The Bridge Inn we decided to explore Napton for the first time. We walked into the village...up the hill...had a pint (or two) in the Crown and then headed back down the hill where we found the King's Head. As I recall, it was a typical (for the time) country pub that also did food.
It made such an impression on us that we didn't visit again for 20 years! This time we'd hired a boat from Wigrams Turn Marina and this was our destination on the last evening - Thursday 9th October 2014.
Amazingly, it was no longer an Ansell's pub, but had transformed into a fully fledged gastropub. It was what you'd expect in the Warwickshire countryside - somewhat upmarket with prices to reflect this.
We returned with the new boat Peggy Ellen for her new permanent mooring at Wigrams Turn Marina and so we ended the journey with another visit to the King's Head.
This was on Thursday 1st October 2018 and the pub had hardly changed in the intervening four years. It still is a place where you could just have a drink...but it is a restaurant, really! Just for those who like this sort of thing - they now serve Hook Norton ales, a guest ale and craft brews such as Carling, Estrella and San Miguel...bring your cheque book! We did enjoy the food and the evening so it worked on both levels!
Great stuff Pete loving the pictures and the fact I know a lot of the pubs! Except for this one...is it like an orange tree in Chadwick End
ReplyDeleteBritain Beermat
It's many years since I've been to the Orange Tree, so I'm not sure.
DeleteGlad you're enjoying the blog...I'll try and do a few more this year.