The Farmer's Dog Review

Opened in 2024 by celebrity TV host (and now farmer) Jeremy Clarkson, The Farmer's Dog near the Oxfordshire village of Burford, is an immensely popular pub, with that popularity driven significantly by the success of the Amazon TV show Clarkson's Farm. With my kids being huge fans of the show, taking a little detour on our return from a holiday near London seemed as good a time as any to give the place a try, so I duly rocked up for lunch with my wife and two young children on a sunny late-May Sunday.

Like many high-demand restaurants which I've booked in the past, reservations are released monthly at a set time and although I did manage to secure a reservation on the date I wanted, I have to say the process was absolutely horrendous and the worst I've experienced for any UK restaurant. After being online when reservations opened, I selected the time I wanted no problem (I'm a fast clicker) and was proceeding to fill in my details to secure my booking, well before the countdown timer displayed on the booking website expired.

Only after I entered my card details and completed the SCA process (when your bank pops up and asks you to verify the charge, in this case £0.00) did the booking system then say, sorry your booking has failed, try again. This happened, and I'm not exaggerating here and have the screenshots to prove it, SIX times. Six times I entered all my card details after successfully selecting a reservation time, only to be told in fact the time was no longer available.

It's very clear that the SevenRooms booking platform they've opted to use simply can't handle the reservation volume here; if the restaurant were choosing to charge a deposit (instead of just taking cards details without an actual charge) there would actually be quite serious legal implications to collecting that money and then not delivering a reservation; it's really an incredibly poor piece of system design by SevenRooms to allow a booking system to operate in this way.

Alas, I did eventually manage to secure a reservation at the seventh attempt (as I say, my kids are huge fans) but it's not a process I'd ever want to repeat. Arriving at the venue was quite a lot smoother; there's a huge (albeit not tarmacked) car park across the road from the pub with plenty of space which was much appreciated after a long drive. I'd read beforehand there is a charge to park here, but there wasn't anything requested on the day of our visit which was an added bonus.

The car park is a short(ish) walk from the pub, and there are some great countryside views on the way too. Getting inside the pub was no issue, there was no queue for example as I feared there might be. There's a bar area as you walk in and then a small entrance stand for the restaurant where a gentleman greeted us perfectly warmly and showed us to our table. We were sat just off the main dining room which was actually a decent spot with kids as it was slightly quieter than the main open dining area; the restaurant was absolutely packed as you'd expect throughout our visit.

Our table wasn't massive but perfectly comfortable, and I liked the interior of the pub itself with the famed hung-from-the-roof tractor looking as impressive in person as it does on TV. The only thing internally I didn't like were the toilets; I try not to talk about toilets in reviews but given the number of covers here (the place is pretty vast) the toilets are tiny. One male cubicle and two female cubicles is bordering on ridiculous for this size of venue, so be prepared to queue, or leg it to the toilet block outside if you're desperate.

On offer at lunch is a full three course carte menu plus a specials sheet with some additional options. There's no children's menu but our waitress did let us know they can do half portions (at half price) for any dish on the menu, which was appreciated. Drinks wise, it's all British as promised, so I had a glass of Lyme Bay Chardonnay (one of my favourite English wines) whilst my wife and kids had soft drinks, including apple juice.

Lunch began for me with the chicken and bacon terrine, served with sourdough plus a carrot and celeriac remoulade. This was uncomplicated but perfectly tasty, and a very sound pub starter. There are only three starters on the menu and my wife didn't fancy any of them, but fortunately via the specials sheet there was a sharing platter of bread, meat and cheese available, which my wife and kids had a go at. There wasn't a lot of cooking involved here, but it was pleasant enough.

For mains I had the roast pork, served with roasted potatoes, carrots and celeriac, spring greens, a Yorkshire pudding and stout gravy. As pub Sunday roasts go, this was actually very tasty. The meat cooking was sound, the Yorkshire pudding in particular was very good and I enjoyed everything on the plate really.

My wife and daughter went for the beetroot pearl barley (my daughter having the half portion option) which unfortunately wasn't great. The beetroot chunks were nice and the cheese crisps fine, but the pearl barley was claggy and not very well made. It wasn't a great dish and neither my wife nor daughter finished it; it's probably fair to say a decent tasting vegetarian main is not high on the list of priorities here.

Despite a bit of a mixed bag for the savoury courses, naturally there was no chance of us leaving without trying dessert. I went for the raspberry, honey and oat tart, served with brandy mascarpone and apple puree. This wasn't brilliant but it was edible; the tart itself didn't pack as much flavour as I'd hoped.

My wife had the strawberry sundae from the specials menu which was equally uneventful, whilst my daughter had the apple crumble which again was very basic, but tasted fine and was probably the pick of the desserts. My young son tried the strawberry ice cream; this was presented in its original cardboard tub from whoever made it with a Farmer's Dog label stuck on the top. It tasted fine but you can't get a more lazy pub/restaurant dessert than that.

And that as they say was pretty much that. After collecting our bill (complete with 12.5% service charge), our curious lunch came to an end. We did enjoy our visit here, but overall the food was disappointing and not as good as I'd hoped, sitting around what I'd call slightly above average pub grub.

The service was good though; friendly and efficient and it's clear they've got a pretty well oiled machine here, although you have to really to serve the several hundred covers a day they have to deliver. It's understandable why there isn't much cooking skill on show given the amount of food they have to dish out daily, but I did feel the pricing was pretty punchy given the standard of cooking delivered.

There was a clip on the Clarkson's Farm show recently where they talk about the pricing of other gastropubs in the area, but there are fifteen gastropubs within ten miles of this one that hold either a Michelin or AA award (or both), including one they directly referenced on the show. The pricing here is in line with a two AA rosette venue, but the quality and technical skill on show in the cooking is nowhere near that level, and that's where the issue is for me.

But here's the thing; ultimately this isn't a dining destination pub, it's a tourist destination (it's closer to a theme park than a decent restaurant) and in that context and considering all the associated cost overheads that brings, the pricing isn't all that bad. And as I mentioned, there were some definite positives like the venue itself and the staff.

I'm glad we went; it was a great surprise for the kids and a must-do for fans of the TV show. I'm also sure with that massively important celebrity connection (it's the only reason most people are there, let's be honest) that the place will continue to thrive, and that can only be a good thing for all involved. But is it a place worth a visit purely based on the quality of the meal? Not for me, but in this rare case, that really doesn't matter.