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There is no black pepper at The Farmer's Dog. No Coca-Cola, no coffee, no avocado either. When Jeremy Clarkson set out to open a pub that served only British food and drink, he found out on camera just how much of an ordinary pub menu quietly arrives from somewhere else, and then took all of it out anyway.
What is left is one of the most singular places to eat and drink in the country. The beef was reared down the road, the lager was brewed nearby, and the view from the terrace is good enough to make you forget you were ever annoyed about the coffee. It is part pub, part farm shop, part argument for British farming, set in a converted barn near Burford.
It is also, thanks to the show, one of the hardest tables to book in the Cotswolds.
Where is The Farmer's Dog?
The Farmer's Dog sits at Asthall, near Burford, just off the A40 in west Oxfordshire (OX18 4HJ). It is a former 15th-century barn, known for years as The Windmill, that Clarkson bought and reopened in August 2024 after a long and well-documented renovation.
It is worth being clear on the geography, because it trips a lot of people up. The pub is not at Diddly Squat. It sits about nine miles south of the farm, roughly twenty minutes by car, in the opposite direction from Chipping Norton. If you are mapping out the wider area, our guide to where Clarkson's Farm is located covers how the pieces fit together. For the pub itself, think Burford, not Chadlington.
The all-British menu
What makes The Farmer's Dog unlike almost any other pub in the country is its refusal to serve anything that cannot be grown or reared on a British farm. That means no Coca-Cola, no coffee, no avocado, and famously no black pepper, none of which Britain produces. The single concession is tonic water, on the not-unreasonable grounds that a British pub without the option of a gin and tonic would be a sad thing.
In practice this makes for a short, seasonal, properly British menu: Sunday roasts, steak pie made with Hawkstone gravy, sausage and mash, all built around British beef, lamb, pork, dairy, and vegetables, with even the cooking oils sourced at home. To drink, it is Clarkson's own Hawkstone lager and cider, poured a few miles from where it is brewed. It is a menu that doubles as an argument, and the argument is for British farming.
More than a pub
The pub is only part of it. Permanently parked in the grounds is the enormous black marquee that served as the studio for The Grand Tour, now home to The Farmer's Puppy, an outdoor food operation, and a set of garden bars. Alongside it sits Hops & Chops, an on-site butcher and bottle shop selling British-reared meat and cases of Hawkstone to take home, plus a small outpost of the Diddly Squat shop for the merchandise.
Inside, the pub leans into its own mythology, with a chrome tractor hanging from the ceiling and motoring memorabilia on the walls. The terrace, though, is the real draw. The view across the Cotswolds from the front of The Farmer's Dog is one of the finest of any pub in Britain, and you do not need a table or a booking to stand and enjoy it with a pint.
What people think
The reviews tell a fairly consistent story. Visitors love the food and the idea behind it, rate the Hawkstone and the Sunday roasts, and single out the view from the terrace as close to worth the trip on its own. It is a genuinely dog-friendly pub, which suits the name, and the feeling of standing in a place you have watched being built on television lands exactly as you would hope.
Two niggles come up often enough to be worth addressing. The first is price. Some find it dear, though that deserves some context. The pub serves only British produce, which costs more, and Clarkson has been strikingly open on the show about how much the place loses, from a small army of parking attendants to relentless theft, with around 400 pint glasses walking out every single week. When he benchmarked the menu against nearby pubs on camera, the Farmer's Dog came out as one of the cheapest in the area. For what it is, we think it is a fair price.
The second is the toilets, which take a battering. Some of that is simple popularity, but a lot of it, as the show makes plain, comes down to how badly a minority of visitors treat the place, walking off with light bulbs and even urinal traps as souvenirs until the staff had to screw them down. Worth bearing in mind before judging them too harshly.
The other recurring theme is just how busy it gets, with the queues and the car park that come with being one of the most visited pubs in the country. That part, at least, is the part a tour quietly takes care of.
Can you just turn up?
Yes and no, and the distinction matters.
The pub is open every day except Monday, with the bar running into the evening (Tuesday to Saturday until 11pm, Sunday until 10.30pm) and the Grand Tour tent open through the daytime. Hours shift a little with the seasons, so the official Farmer's Dog site always has the current times alongside the booking widget.
If you want a table in the restaurant, you need to plan. Tables are released online a month at a time and are snapped up quickly, especially for weekends, and the pub takes bookings only through its website. There is no phone number, by design. If a Sunday roast in the restaurant is the goal, that booking needs to be in your diary the moment it opens.
If you simply want to be there, it is far easier. You do not need a booking to drink at the garden bars or to eat at The Farmer's Puppy in the Grand Tour tent, which runs first come, first served. Dogs are welcome around the bar and outside, fittingly. Parking is on site, with an overflow field across the A40 that fills on busy days, so a little patience helps. For most visitors, the realistic version of a trip here is a drink, some tent food, a look round the shop, and that view, with a restaurant table as the prize for whoever planned ahead.
The easy way to see it
The catch with doing all of this yourself is the same one that applies to the whole Clarkson circuit: the driving, the parking, and the fact that the best part is a pint you cannot have if you are behind the wheel.
Our Clarkson's Farm tour from London takes that off your plate. The pub is one of three stops on the day, alongside Diddly Squat Farm Shop and Hawkstone Brewery, with a small group, a comfortable minibus, and a driver-guide who knows the area. You get time at The Farmer's Dog to enjoy the place properly, a Hawkstone if you want one, and none of the logistics. You leave from South Kensington in the morning and you are back by early evening, having seen the real heart of Clarkson's Farm without once worrying about a booking widget or a muddy overflow car park.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need to book a table at The Farmer's Dog?
For a table in the restaurant, yes. Tables are released online a month at a time and book up quickly, particularly for weekends, and the pub takes bookings only through its website, as it has no phone number. You do not need a booking to drink at the garden bars or to eat at The Farmer's Puppy in the Grand Tour tent, which is first come, first served.
Is The Farmer's Dog dog friendly?
Yes, very. Dogs are welcome around the bar and the outdoor areas, which is fitting for a pub with that name. It is a busy place, so a well-behaved dog or two is the idea rather than a whole pack.
What's on the menu at The Farmer's Dog?
Everything is grown or reared in Britain, which is the idea behind the place. Expect Sunday roasts, pies, and seasonal British dishes, British-made pizzas at The Farmer's Dough, and Clarkson's own Hawkstone beer and cider alongside English wine. You will not find Coca-Cola, coffee, or avocado, none of which Britain produces.
What are The Farmer's Dog opening hours?
The pub is open Tuesday to Saturday from 11am to 11pm and Sunday from 11am to 10.30pm, and is closed on Mondays. The Grand Tour tent and its food run through the daytime. Hours can change with the seasons, so check the official Farmer's Dog site for the latest before you travel.
