We set off from Wiltshire on a sunny Monday morning in autumn to travel to The Plough Inn at Cold Aston for a two night break. The journey took us through pretty Cotswold stone towns and villages as we meandered through the Cotswolds, taking the slow road and enjoying the views.
We arrived in Cold Aston, also known as Aston Blank, in the late afternoon and easily found the Plough Inn by the tiny village green. The village did not disappoint as, like the other villages that we had passed, it was a lovely mixture of Cotswold stone buildings with some, including The Plough, dating back to the 17th century. As we entered the pub we found a lovely mixture of old world charm and modern decor.
We had a warm welcome from Chris, the assistant manager, who booked us in and arranged a time for us to have dinner then showed us to our room. The Plough’s three letting rooms, named after local areas, are accessed through a separate outside entrance. The narrow stairway opened into a small landing and the three rooms led off this. Our home for two nights was Notgrove which has a small window overlooking the village green.
The room exudes charm with areas of exposed stone and beams. It is furnished in a country chic manner with co-ordinating but not matching throw, cushions, chair, curtains and lamps. There is a vast super-king bed, bedecked with lovely white linen and a pile of really fluffy white towels. Lots of lovely touches and attention to detail make you feel comfortable and relaxed. Bottled water on the bedside cabinets and a tray with cups, a coffee maker and a kettle, along with a radio and a TV with Freesat, make the room a lovely place to relax.
The bathroom is large and again the attention to detail means beautiful, luxury 100 Acres botanical toiletries have been provided.
After a lovely night’s sleep and a large full English breakfast with plenty of coffee, we planned our next two days. The Plough is ideally situated to explore the Cotswolds. There are plenty of opportunities to walk directly from the pub or to drive to many beautiful local towns and villages or visit local attractions. Cheltenham is not far away either. We were spoilt for choice and chose a few things to do based on the weather and restrictions due to Covid-19 and I have written about these in a separate review.
We ate at The Plough on both evenings and it is obvious that it has built up a good reputation for its food as even on a Monday night the tables were all taken. It is relaxed dining with well presented locally sourced ingredients and fish that come direct from Brixham. The menu is kept relatively small, with some changes daily, and takes account of what is freshly available. There is something for all tastes and it is definitely not the usual run-of-the-mill pub food as the chef puts his own personal twist on even familiar dishes. Starters included, moules mariniere, steak tartare and devilled kidneys. The mains were split between two sections with about half being cooked on the Bertha, a wood fired oven. 
From the Bertha came hanger steak chimichurri, burgers, whole sea bass and even lobster, whilst also on the menu are stone bass with tomato, chorizo and butter beans, lamb rump with fondant potato with chard and 30 day plus ruby red dry-aged sirloin steaks with the trimmings. We only had room for pudding on one night and enjoyed the Eton mess and apple and blackberry pie. The food, including the fish which I am very fussy about, was beautifully cooked and simply presented in generous portions. In fact the food was so good that I could not wait to get tucked in to it and forgot to take a photo. There is a good wine selection and local beers and ciders as well as a large gin menu.
My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed staying at The Plough Inn and thank Tom and his small, very busy team for a fantastic stay.
Visit www.coldastonplough.com for more information.
