Reviewed
Aug 03

Harriet's tearooms are not in Oxford. They are about 8 miles outside, in the Cotswold village of Woodstock. However, despite the fact that the whole village is packed with Blenheim palace tourists don't let this one be a place that slips the locals by. Take a sunny afternoon off, catch the bus (20 or 50 outside Borders), browse the gift and antique shops and let Harriet's complete the sylvan perfection that so many other Cotswold sandstone tearooms strive for.

For £3.95 you can get a generous ploughman's lunch, hunks of fresh brown bread, a huge slab of Cheddar, Stilton or Brie, a mixed salad and your very own pot of real ale chutney. If that doesn't appeal, you could try one of their BLT baps for the same price. Or a large slice of quiche, some homemade soup or even that student staple of baked beans on toast (£2.95). There is plenty of choice.

Whatever you eat though, make sure you leave plenty of room for a cream tea. If necessary, skip lunch and just have tea. 2 warm, freshly baked scones, a tiny pot of strawberry jam, some yellow clotted cream and a pot of tea are only £3.75. You can take this outside in the garden (although the wasps put up a good fight for both jam and chutney) or inside surrounded by pictures of Blenheim and Oxford.

To complete the middle England feel, the girls serving wear frilly white aprons, you can relax with a broadsheet newspaper from a wooden rack and there are lines of novelty teapots on the windowsill. If you are still hungry after tea, you could have a slice of homemade Victoria sponge or Farmhouse Fruitcake for £1.95, or any one of the morning cakes. On a hot day, Harriet's is the place to go for a mouth-watering selection of ice creams and sorbets (£1.50). And, to recreate the whole experience again at home, you can buy any of the jams and chutneys from the extensive variety on offer for sale. This is probably a better option only if you really can't keep going back though. Harriet's is well worth the trip.

Abby Chicken