The Turnpike is in Yarnton, a small village just outside Oxford. It offers everything you’d expect from a country pub: open fires, leather armchairs, exposed stonework and cask ales. There’s also a large beer garden, perfect for drinks in the summer.
The food menu has something to suit most tastes. Starters include smoked mackerel pate, garlic king prawns and tomato arancini. Those who want to share can choose from a whole baked Camembert drizzled in truffle oil and honey or a platter featuring sticky chicken and crispy prawns.
Mains are burgers, skewers or a range of pub classics. Skewers can be either chicken, king prawn, halloumi or lamb and served with your choice of triple cooked chips, hummus and flatbread or a feta and toasted tortilla salad. There’s three burgers to choose from: beef, chicken or buttermilk chicken. Pub classics include fish and chips, pie of the day and slow cooked pork belly. Dishes from further afield are represented by aubergine parmigiana and chicken and vegetable Penang curry.
The Turnpike also serves stone-baked pizzas. Options here are margherita, pepperoni or sticky duck and hoisin, which uses the Cantonese sauce in the pizza base. The lunch menu is mainly made up sandwiches, with fillings such as beef brisket or fish fingers.
Sundays are all about roasts. Meat options are sirloin of beef, lamb rump, turkey breast or belly pork. The vegetarian option is a candied vegetable roast. All three meats apart from lamb can be ordered together in the Sunday trio, which, like all roasts, comes with unlimited gravy.
The brunch menu covers a lot of ground. There’s a full English (also available vegetarian), eggs Florentine, Benedict and Royale and buttermilk pancakes. Brunch serving days and times vary and are regularly posted on the pub’s Facebook page.
The Turnpike is part of Vintage Inns, a network of 186 pubs in the UK. Many of these are dog-friendly and take bookings for Christmas day.