Recent Posts

• Christmas and New Year in the Cotswolds

  Oct, 2018

  When is it OK to start feeling Christmassy? I know, I know.. it’s way too early! But, if you want to make a break of it and go somewhere nice for either Christmas or New Year you really need to book now, and that’s why we’re ahead of the game!

  We launched our Bull at Burford Christmas and New Year’s Eve packages this week so I wanted to let you all know about them.

  Christmas 2018 at the Bull

  For Christmas 2018 we have a wonderful 3-night stay on 24th, 25th and 26th December, with prices starting from £202.50 per person for a small double going up to £262.50 per person for one of our lovely superior rooms. The price includes the usual bed and breakfast and also a bottle of champagne on arrival. You then have the option of adding Christmas Day lunch and/or Christmas eve dinner but we’ve made these separate as we realise that often people make other plans for these meals.

  Bring in the New Year at the Bull

  For New Year’s Eve we have a 2-night bed & breakfast stay on 30th and 31st December with prices starting from just £114 per person and extra nights at just £65 per person. Optional extras on this deal are a 3 course a-la-carte dinner on either or both nights for just £35 per person.

  These are just two of the many package deals we have on at the moment, all of which you can see on our offers page – but make sure you book soon to avoid disappointment!

  Christmas Day lunch

  Fed up with all the cooking and washing up and prefer to go out, relax and go home to a tidy house? People say the same every year! Our wonderful Christmas lunch allows you to do exactly that. But please book early to avoid disappointment.

  Have your office party at the Bull!

  However big or small your company, our 4-course Christmas Party menu gives everyone a real treat and at just £24.00 per person I think it’s great value, leaving you more than enough spare to get taxis to and from Burford!

  Read This Post
• Midweek mini-breaks in the Cotswolds

  Sep, 2018

  By Jean-Marie Lauzier

  The weather doesn’t quite know what it’s doing but I love this time of year. For those with young children it is a case of getting back into the school routine, but for those like me (whose kids are grown up) there’s often time and freedom to go and explore a bit, and Burford in the Cotswolds is the perfect place for this.

  With this in mind, we’ve come up with three special offers for people who want to make a break for it during the week to relax and stay in a lovely room from Sunday to Friday, and get back home in time for the weekend, maybe to take care of the grandchildren! Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure these will appeal to a far broader audience than just grandparents, but I’m looking at them from my perspective!

  2-night Burford mini-break

  This is a refreshing two night midweek stay with breakfast and a 3-course a-la-carte dinner both nights, and a bottle of champagne on arrival, all from just £169 per person! Book here >>

  3-Night Cotswold Escape

  For those wanting something a little longer, this offers an incredible 3-night midweek stay, with the usual breakfast and a 3 course a-la-carte dinner (value £35 pp) on two of the three nights, knowing that sometimes people like to venture out somewhere else too on one night. There’s also a bottle of champagne on arrival and all this from just 199 per person sharing, with a superior upgrade available for a little more.  Book here >>

  The perfect dog-walker’s Sunday

  Lots of people ask if we accept dogs and the answer is yes, as long as they’re friendly and well-behaved! This Sunday Special package offers Dinner, Bed & Breakfast for just £74.50 per person sharing, and dogs go free (usually a small charge applies).  Book here >>

  Royal Air Tattoo 2019!

  If you’re an Air Tattoo enthusiast you’ll already be planning for July 2019. With the event held in nearby Fairford, we have a 3-night minimum stay package including dinner, bed & breakfast on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights of the Air Tattoo. Ring the hotel if you want to book a Friday-Saturday-Sunday stay.

  Read This Post
• New menu of delights for the autumn

  Aug, 2018

  In my last Bull Bulletin I celebrated the fact that the Bull at Burford had been welcoming guests as a Cotswold inn since 1610! This time is slightly less grandiose but I wanted to let everyone know that our head chef Pablo has published a new menu this week, featuring many of the old favourites as well as some new wonderful dishes.

  So what would I eat? A couple of my favourites from the lunch menu would be the sharing platter of whitebait, bravas, crispy aubergines and chicken skewers and also the fish platter of smoked salmon, dressed crayfish, pickled herring, mackerel pate, smoked gravlax and salmon tartare.

  A lot of our lunchtime eaters go for the fish and chips, which is excellent with homemade tartare and chunky chips, and also the selection of sandwiches, which are all served with mixed leaves and also French fries.

  On the dinner menu, among the starters I love the fish platter, which I could eat every day, the scallops and the beef cheek croquettes and from the mains I often go for the fresh fish, which comes in from Brixham every day.

  Something a bit special

  If I were to go for something a bit different, especially as the autumn draws in, it would be the venison which is wonderful. The steak is always good too and we’ve had great compliments about the curry, although I must admit that I’m not a big curry eater so I just smell the lovely aroma as it wafts past.

  I’m not a big dessert eater either, but we get compliments on those all of the time! In fact someone ordered three last week!

  What I can guarantee is that there is something to suit everyone’s taste and budget, including gluten free and vegetarian options right through the menu, which we’re also proud of.

  We look forward to welcoming you in our bar, reception lounge or restaurant, or even outside if the sun comes out again. And remember, you can get even better value on our food by taking us up on one of our Cotswold Special Offers and our Burford dinner bed and breakfast rates.

  Read This Post
• Celebrating 408 years of history at the Bull

  Jul, 2018

  I’d like to start again by thanking the many people who have reviewed the Bull at Burford over the past month on Tripadvisor, Facebook, Booking.com or elsewhere.

  I find reviews fascinating. The vast majority of people who come and stay with us know what they’re going to get: a warm friendly welcome, great service, accommodation comfortably in the 3-star bracket, lovely food probably a bit above that and the odd creaky floor befitting a building first officially documented in 1473! Their reviews of the Bull and of Burford are based very much on those expectations.

  Every now and then we welcome a guest who is clearly more used to ‘modern’ than ‘historic’! Usually they leave days later totally won over by the charms of our historic coaching inn, but for others floors and walls simply need to be at a right angle, and I can’t do anything for them!

  Did you know: we moved in 1610!

  I recently stumbled over some historical dates and information and thought I’d share them. A house is first documented at 105 High Street from 1473, when the prominent Burford merchant John Pinnock left it first to his son and granddaughter, and then to the parish church.

  Having been used during the reformation as a butcher’s shop, in 1610 John Silvester moved the existing Bull Inn from 111–113 High Street to 105 High Street and set about renovating certain parts of the building, including the 17th-century fireplaces and panelling.

  So as an inn, the building has been receiving guests ever since 1610 – that’s 408 years! Famous visitors have included Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton (the Trafalgar Suite is named in memory of their stay) as well as King Charles II and his mistress Nell Gwynne. And a few more in recent years.

  The only red brick building in Burford

  The striking brick and stone façade (the Bull is the only red brick building in Burford High Street) was added in the 18th century, probably around 1715 by the innkeeper William Tash. Half a century later, in 1768, £196 was spent on further building work.

  The inn was sold by the charity trustees in or after 1820 and by 1910 was owned by Clinch & Co. of Witney. The building suffered a fire in 1982 but it remained open as an inn until it was condemned for fire and safety reasons in 2007, at which point we bought it and took on and completed a major renovation project!

  Nine years after we re-opened it, the Bull is now once more a thriving inn with a friendly welcome, comfortable rooms, wonderful food and happy guests. But remember, no building over 600 years old doesn’t have the odd squeaky floor!

  Read This Post
• Remembering Fawlty Towers and a terrine to die for

  Jun, 2018

  This time of year always reminds me of Fawlty Towers and the Wooburn Grange in Buckinghamshire. Not many people know that the outside of the hotel used in the famous sitcom was not in Torquay but the Wooburn Grange, and at the time I was manager there!

  This little quirk of history recently produced a funny moment for my oldest son while working at a sporting event. Standing by the side of a pitch, he was chatting with the television floor manager Tony about his first jobs in TV. Tony was about my age and explained that one of his first jobs in the 1970s had been on Fawlty Towers for the BBC.

  He and a few of his colleagues turned up at the venue, the Grange, on the wrong day and were greeted by a young Frenchman who offered them a drink and explained it was no problem still to take a look around. After telling this story, Tony was amazed when my son replied: “Tony, that Frenchman was my dad!”

  It was early on in my career, having only recently arrived from France, and I still remember back very fondly to those times, especially in the spring and summer months. Fortunately, none of the Fawlty Towers chaos rubbed off, BUT guests who stay with us and eat in the restaurant will sometimes talk with our head chef Pablo and get to sample his English accent, which is a little reminiscent of Manuel, Andrew Sachs’ immortalised waiter from Fawlty Towers!

  Pablo’s Recipe & Top Tip

  For this Bulletin, Pablo has offered up one of his favourite recipes, his salmon and crayfish terrine currently on our menu, and don’t miss the top tip: these ingredients will make a terrine to serve 12. Once you’ve put the ingredients together and made the terrine, the magic tip is to leave it in the fridge for at least eight hours before serving and eating. Happy cooking.

  • 300g crayfish, sliced
  • 200g fresh spinach
  • 15g unsalted butter
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 200g salmon fillet, cooked and flaked
  • 200g prawns, cooked and chopped
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 3 pinches cayenne pepper
  • 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
  • salt to taste
  • 4 level teaspoons powdered gelatine or use 4 or 5 sheets of gelatine
  • 250ml double cream

  Amazing Summer Deals

  Remember to check out our amazing deals on mid-week stays and Sunday Lunch-Sleep-Breakfast, plus unbeatable prices for B&B and Dinner B&B.

  Read This Post