Helen Browning's Royal Oak in Swindon

This is not just a great place to stay. It's somewhere you MUST stay! We stumbled across it by accident, but it is just wonderful. 5 hour power cut in the village last night but they seemed so chill and carried on as if nothing unusual was happening. Truly everyone we have encountered has been so friendly. The food is magnificent. The bedroom is perfect, and so comfortable. Highly, highly recommended

Fantastic place to stay, the rooms are perfect and clean. The pub is amazing, thanks to Tim and all his team, couldn’t have asked for more from them all, brilliant 🍺👍🏽

Absolutely amazing establishment , top tier customer service and the food!!! 😍😍 will definitely be returning frequently! ❤️

Perfect first time visit! We stumbled across this pub after a walk and are so delighted we did. The staff were very welcoming and found us a spot to sit with our baby, young child and dog. The high chair was great, with safety straps, which kept our 8 month old seated happily. They have a games corner and we found a perfect game to keep our 3 year old entertained. Nice selection for vegetarians. I asked a member of staff for more details about the dishes and they all sounded delicious. I had a hard time choosing and I went with the member of staffs (I didn’t get her name) recommendation which I didn’t regret. Lovely pub, helpful staff and tasty food! We look forward to our next visit :)

I booked a table for 6 people on Mothers Day (10th March) with high hopes that the meal would be everything we expected for this establishment. The table was booked for 1215 as we had my 5 year old with us and we were served quickly. We ordered 4 roast beef, 1 lamb and 1 small lamb roast. The portions were all notably small, very little meat, the roast potatoes (I only had 1, everyone else only had 2) were soggy and not crispy as you'd expect. The cabbage was tough to eat and it arrived warm, not hot. We all noted that meals on the table next to ours were larger, the party arrived after us. Our desserts were served separately. Two arrived 15 minutes before my father in laws and my own. We both noted they were tepid in temperature and the custard was cold. We assune perhaps they'd been forgotten and handed to us after they'd been standing waiting as the restaurant filled and the waitress was busy serving. The roasts (5 plus my sons) and 4 glasses of wine, 6 non alcoholic beers and 3 alcoholic beers all came to £300. I've genuinely had better meals at the Toby Carvery. We were all pretty disappointed by the food and I'm only writing this now because I feel my mother's day treat was not what it should have been. On reflection, given the reputation of Helen Brownings, I was happy to pay the prices charged (£25pp for a good roast dinner) but it wasnt good and we should have voiced it at the time but we didn't want to cause a scene. Lesson learnt I suppose.

Very lovely pub and hotel! 90% of the food comes from their own organic farm and that's something you can definitely taste! Good place to stay for a few nights and breakfast included in the price of the room. Very lovely and helpful staff who will go to great lengths to be of service. The place is very close to the Ridgeway as well, which is highly recommended for anyone that's interested in a wonderfull stroll. Pop in, sleep in, have a bite and a pint or two and don't forget to check for any nice activities and special events. We'll definitely continue our visits there and we highly recommend this fantastic place!

What a lovely roast meal. All the elements of the meal were fresh and full of flavour. The service was genuine and good with the owner doing something I’m not used to at all; thanking me for coming . Yes, it was above average in price but I would much rather pay an extra £5 a head to enjoy the quality of food served today.

Very limited choice on menu. If you didn't like pork you would struggle. Complete mix up on starters. Pork belly chosen by 3 of the 4 of us @£25 per head. Was ok but not brilliant. Table of 4 with one bottle of wine a couple of Jack Daniels and coke, 2 starters, 2 bread and olives, 4 mains and 2 deserts ended with a bill of £240!!!!

Nestling in the lovely village of Bishopstone, just off the Ridgeway, you couldn't hope to find somewhere to eat and stay that's more welcoming and cosy than the Royal Oak. The rooms are very nicely designed, the showers excellent, and the beds comfortable. Nice touches like the Common Room (with tea, coffee, honesty bar, table football, comfy chairs and Hereford bull wheeled toy!), spare walking boot box and the Helen Browning farm shop all add to the experience. The bar and restaurant are really snug and rustic, and the food is tasty, healthy and satisfying. A good selection of ales plus local organic drinks and cocktails too. The coffee is great. It's a great place to eat, and the staff are all happy, well organised and helpful. Definitely a place to consider visiting, especially if you're walking the Ridgeway.

Arrived having reserved a table for lunch on a Saturday. Told where our table was located but not shown to it. No menus provided and no request for drinks taken. Went to the bar and ordered drinks and requested menus. Two other members of our party arrived and again no request for drinks taken. Asked whether we need to order food at the bar to get a staff member to come to take our order. Food was ok when it eventually arrived. We won’t be in a hurry to return.

Very tasty set menu. Lovely pub with friendly, attentive staff

Great room excellent service and brilliant ethics we hope to return.

Comfortable room, very friendly welcome, great food (local sourced meat especially). The 'Wallow' common room for overnight guests featuring free tea and coffee, honesty bar, squashy sofas and table football Lovely farm shop on site. Close to the Ridgeway for walking and running - there are even walking/Welly boots to borrow and a boot wash!

2nd stay here, and was just as great as the 1st. Excellent rooms, fantastic locally sourced food, super friendly staff.

Quite a limited menu, although the food was delicious (decent size portions too). Staff were friendly and attentive.

An expensive meal but poor quality. Nice restaurant , warm , cosy and friendly staff. Just not what I was expecting.

Lovely room, excellent location for walks in the beautiful Wiltshire countryside. The food was delicious and generously portioned. Oh and the service was absolutely fab.

Stop for a drink on a Saturday lunchtime and a bite to eat. Ordered drinks and a pizza drinks came straight away Pizza 40min later. If I hadn't paid I would have left. After chasing twice the miserable chef drop it on the table, we were outside. Not cooked properly under cooked at the base. Update: Went for Sunday Lunch 15th oct 2023 Sorry to say the beef was very chewy for me and my wife left most of it. Shame as the rest was great but will not risk it again

Great stay here highly recommend 🙂

Great shop with local suppliers.

Oddly there is a review here that says that because the room was on the street, it was noisy. I struggle to understand this as the 'High Street' is what would commonly be referred to as a quiet country lane, during my 3 nights here, I only heard two cars actually driving past. The food is plentiful, the staff is friendly. The venue can't help it, but the entire area is thick with mosquitoes.

Great service and excellent food...

We decided to meet up at the Royal Oak for dinner as our family was coming from 3 different directions - what an amazing find it was! The food was superb, all organic and fresh from the farm. The service was very attentive, and the Ginger ice cream was to die for! 😋 Will definitely be returning. Thanks for a wonderful evening

Went for dinner but found the menu very bland and not much of a choice, after hearing good things about the place gave it a try but won't go back as very over priced for the standard of food you receive. The carpark could do with a tidy up and weeding. Found better pubs near buy that was more welcoming and served better food.

My husband and I went there last year and decided to go back again. Our room was very nice especially as we took out dog this year. The food was excellent so very fresh and tasty. The staff are very welcoming and friendly. They will do anything for you if you need them for anything.

Fantastic pub for a Sunday roast, the roast beef was excellent and the outdoor space is great. Staff and owner very friendly. Good gluten free options and the mini roast for kids is substantial! The playhouse is popular too

Exceptional place to stay, room was very clean and spacious, we had an evening meal in the pub which was amazing and good value for the money 👌 Very helpful and friendly staff, I would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a stopover in this area 😁😎

Once the parents in-law had arrived, we were looking for somewhere nice and up market to take them for a nice meal. On searching Trip Advisor we found this place, coming in with loads of good reviews we had to go and try it ourselves. Having a seven week old baby, at the time, we need to be able to have a table which allowed the pram to be close to the table but not block any other patrons. Firstly, we parked in the available car park (of which there is plenty of space) to then find we had to travel down some very steep stairs in order to get to the restaurant. Without realising it, or being told, there was another entry point which would have been far easier - this was used to exist once we had eaten. First encounter of the staff was they were great! Really welcoming and tried to help with the pram and coming down the steep steps. It wasnt overly busy, the pub, but the food seemed to come out slowly, making the staff really have to be on form with some difficult customers. After waiting over an hour for our food, having bread and olives to tied us over, the burgers finally arrived. They are larger than you would expect from other places, but this is shown in the pricing. All that being said the food was really good and we were impressed with how attentive the staff were with all the tables. There was only about 4 staff members on, covering circa 35 people, but with the delay in the food from the kitchen they dealt really well. The ale was good and there was a wide variety on offer, of which the American Pale Ale was recommended and a good choice. We would return here, be aware however, the limiting factors to this place are: 1. Quirky - not for everyone as it gives off 'Organic' feelings, 2. Location - not only the pub geographically but also the fact you have to go down to enter the restaurant, 3. Price - its not cheap to eat or drink in this establishment, 4. Time - You don't get the feeling things will ever be done quickly here as everything takes its time. So don't be in a rush when visiting.

We just had a lovely afternoon tea here and it was just 👌😋😊 .. very nice, cosy seating outside, super warm and attentive staff 😁 Definitely worth a visit if you're around the area Thank you very much !🙂

I have a soft spot for the Royal Oak. I used to stay there many years ago on my regular walking trips in the area and it's nice to see that the pub has lost none of its atmosphere, despite its huge success and exponential growth as a business. It still has welcoming real fires and is still dog-friendly. Staying overnight is now sadly way out of my league and eating there also is very expensive. I had a side order of chips for £4, but if the main courses had included some options at £12 or (preferably) under, instead of averaging £18 - £20, I'd gladly have spent a bit more for something comforting, substantial and warm at the end of a long walk. Great to see the pub doing so well though, and I certainly intend to continue to visit for many years to come.

Beautiful, quirky, unfussy yet classic...thank you!

Helen Browning's Royal Oak is run by wonderful people. Everyone was welcoming and friendly, we felt well looked after during our 2 night stay. The evening meal was really enjoyable and our room was warm and cosy.

Superb. Proper pub. Five star hospitality, seasonal local beers, log fires and tremendous food. Truly authentic. One of my absolute favourite pubs in the UK. Hadn’t been for best part of 10 years but was just as good as I remember! Chapeau! Won’t leave it as long next time! Thank you!

Absolutely brilliant. Great food. Really fabulous service. So good to feel the food is locally and ethically sourced. Relaxed and friendly environment, would certainly go again.

Great food and friendly staff. The sharing platters are great with variety and lots of food.

Delightful pub. Very good food. Lovely atmosphere. Would highly recommend.

We came (back) here for fireworks night, with food and drink on offer to accompany the show. We had a lovely evening and the kids enjoyed the fireworks. The food was good, a choice of pizza, pull pork and hotdogs. We had some of each and it was nice, the only issue was they had underestimate how many people would show up and, because we didn't arrive super early had to wait about 45 mins for our food, this meant that I missed a lot of the fireworks while queuing, luckily the kids still got to enjoy it, and when the food did arrive it was good. 4 stars if it wasn't for that. But the staff worked their socks off, I really felt for them given the fact they probably had 4x the amount of people they were expecting!

Absolutely brilliant. Once you actually find it, very poorly signposted, you are in for a treat. Don't expect your usual pub grub, this is something way, way superior. Best pork belly I have EVER had, and I am the pork belly King. Just amazing flavours and such a clever mix of ingredients, well done chef. I will definitely come back. 10/10. :-)

Splendid impromptu afternoon visit with a friend. A quirky, fun and cosy establishment with knowledgeable and friendly staff and an excellent locally sourced menu. Well kept ales. We'll be back!

Very nice meal, staff were excellent.

Wonderful village pub serving and supporting great organic produce.

We visited on a recommendation of a friend, and we were not disappointed. The service was really friendly and professional. Our server Max was knowledgeable, polite with a super sense of humour. The food was delicious and good sized portions.

Love, love, love this place. Tim, Helen and the team are so down to earth. You feel very welcome like being part of the family. Food, drinks, service, staff, Tim, Helen and even other customers and not forgetting the overall setting, means the bar is set very high. Your hard work and dedication is very appreciated 👏, thank-you!

Lovely place to eat or stay in. Lovely wood fire baked pizza with fresh ingredients from their farm. Nice Ales available too if you are a beer person. Ample free parking. Definitely worth a visit.

A lovely spot for a quick drink, a leisurely lunch or why not stay the night.

This was our second stay at the Royal Oak in as many months. Location is perfect for walkers being only 15 mins off the Ridgeway. The rooms are great and the beds extremely comfortable. They offer a great breakfast with decent coffee, pastries and cooked options. We also enjoyed our meal in the evening. We will definitely stay again and highly recommend as a Ridgeway stopover.

Quirky, just a little bit different and at the same time one of the very best Sunday lunches I have experienced for many years. The Staff are attentive and the food is positively delicious; oh and save some room for a trip around the desserts - simply too good to miss.

Late Sunday lunch, lovely food and friendly attentive service.

Unique setting and interesting concept mixing farm produce with restaurant, farm shop, picnics & visits. Service very friendly. On tap cloudy cider (not Thatchers!!!) very good. Pork rillette starter good - minor detail maybe less sugar in the onion chutney. Beef tajine good and plentiful - minor detail maybe a little more liquid and work on the spices giving a little more lift. Ice cream very creamy. I'd definitely go back and maybe sit in the garden and have a fire backed pizza.

Amazing lunch, beautiful location and very friendly staff

Excellent food and service in lovely surroundings.

Fate was clearly on my side when I ended up at this pub by accident! Thinking I was booking at somewhere entirely different, sat nav brought us to this hidden gem. Nestled discretly to one side of the main road through Bishopston, the atmosphere, environment, clientele, staff, quality of food, presentation of food (and the list goes on) provided one of the best Sunday lunch experiences that I've ever had. I can't wait to go back, to eat, maybe try one of their picnics, or even organic farm outings...

Fantastic place to stop for lunch during a walk/bike ride along the Ridgeway. Excellent food, good beer and friendly service. A must!

Great place and good food with enormous portions!. Really enjoyed the visit. Staff very helpful & It also has rooms to let if you want to stay.

Fabulous food in a lovely quirky pub. Lovely staff.

Love this place so relaxed, food a bit pricey though.

We stayed for two nights as part of a wedding celebration. The accomodation was extremely comfortable with imaginative decor. The organic food was always very tasty. The staff at all levels were extremely obliging and friendly; in particular Tim, who runs the hotel, was generous with his time. The children in the party were treated to a Landover safari to meet the pigs and see the farm. A memorable few days. Thanks

I rocked up a little worse for wear having just fallen off my push bike coming off the Ridgeway path. My arm covered in blood looked a bit horror story and their team just jumped into action like a well oiled machine. Sat me down, got me a glass of water and the medical box. Took a look at the damage that I couldn't see, screwed up their faces a bit, cleaned and bandaged me up and then packed me off to A&E. I got back around 21.30hrs, they had sorted a lovely room with a floaty bed that I gladly crawled into. Stunning service with real care about my needs. Thanks Tim, Emily (best bandager-upper ever!) and your team.

Took the family for a Sunday Roast, got to be one of the best roast dinners I've had in a pub / restaurant setting. Bar is a nice setting, along with a load of outdoor seating. Sunday roast menu is great, food is extremely flavorsome and you can tell its based on quality produce.

Here we are at last; the epicentre of organic, quality beef and pork. The pub is Shabby chic the food fantastic

Lovely location and a cool organic shop as well as wood fire pizza oven/servery.

Fabulous place ,staying there now. the atmosphere is personal and of the highest standards with all the staff genuinely proud of their standards, and the food ( and beer) is of the highest standards, this place is a hidden gem , so highly recommended.

We went out for a birthday meal, it all started well, although there wasn't any lemonade, coke, or soda water, infact the waitress didn't even know what soda water was! After there was an extremely long wait for the main course, when we finished eating and I have ti say the rump steak was over cooked and tough and inappropriate cutlery was given for the lobster and nowhere to put the shell, when we had finished we then waited for 30 minutes for our plates to be cleared and this was only after we asked for the table to be cleared, when the table was cleared we were told our service was slow because of an accident everyone arrived at the same time, so our service suffered the apology was not heart felt and we felt as if we were an inconvenience, we were offered our desserts for free but we weren't interested in that we just wanted good service we gave our dessert order they then came back and told me that they didn't have what we choose, if our order had been taken earlier we may have had the correct dessert, we spent nearly £200 so expected better service and food, very disappointed I had a response from the owner Tim on trip advisor I've had 14 years learning to make to this place a reliable, fun and sensible venture, because we like looking after people like you, and I have clearly absolutely failed. Your gang of four has had an average of 40 years each to learn grammar and spelling. If I had known of your semi-illiteracy, I'd have suggested we left your plates for an additional half hour. Four reviews from one single table on the night that a massive accident on the M4 sent nearly 60 people to our doors at the same time. I'd love to review you in your jobs. Why do we bother? TF As you can see not terribly apologetic!

Beautiful surroundings, great service. Food not as good as expected. Pork secretos chewy, burger lacked flavour, sharing platter meagre.

Lovely 'super salad' with salmon. Great friendly service.

Amazing stay, lovely staff - a relaxed atmosphere and good food. Rooms are decorated really well. We intend to go back with our friends and stay.

Amazing place, fabulous food, great people. Will be returning soon.

Brilliant evening. Great food, fantastic location and excellent service. A great night.

First time at Helen Brownings Royal Oak, we celebrated our 29th anniversary food did not dissapoint. Ribs were fabulous, succulent and just fell off the bone, pork secretos, nice spicy sauce came with it meat soft juicy. Chunky chips and salad, so much on the plate we couldn't have dessert 😋 but we will ge back

Lovely quirky place with good beer. Loved sitting in an old settee in the barn

Fantastic wedding and farm tour!

We stayed a the quirky little private campsite which is 20 mins walk away from the Royal Oak. We had such a lovely time, it was so quiet, lots of space and the heated bath kept the kids amused for hours!

Very nice quality food .outdoor dining relaxing 🤗

Always reliable for good food and great service. Great Covid safety as well.

Amazing food friendly service with plenty of outdoor seating. 👌

Sadly only stayed for one night as on a journey elsewhere. But what amazing accommodation we couldn't fault it. Food was lovely even though they only had a small menu, but they concentrated on quality of meats and produce. Love to come back thank you.

Really nice location and nice looking place. Very genuine and friendly service. The thing which let it down for me was the food which was not as good as I expected. The lamb was very fatty. Nicely presented, I would try again as I reckon on another day it would have got at least 4*

Had a lovely breakfast here to start the day. Went for a traditional English breakfast which was very tasty and a good amount but not too big. Poached egg was cooked to perfection!

We stayed here and I can say I enjoyed every minute. The food is great the staff are brilliant and I will definitely return.

Great place to chill and leave behind the general stress of life! Super staff with great attitude and for whom, nothing was too much trouble. We will be back!

What a classy place. Fantastic food cooked on an outside grill. We were looked after very well and had a great table in the sun. We'll be back!

Friendy staff, great location and good food.

Great pub if you can find it!! Very unusual place, eclectic inside. Several rooms on 2 levels, outside eating areas. Food freshly cooked, varied choice. Friendly attentive staff. Big carpark. Great walking base up through Bishopstone up to the Ridgeway.

Checking in was slow was waiting for 30 minutes for the room key. The food was average, charcuterie board was only one type of meet so not a selection. Secretos of pork were dry and cold and frozen chips and bagged salad, food not very impressive. Meal for 1 with one beer and 1 glass of wine & dessert £50 The room was nice and clean but extremely noisy. Hardly slept at all, people going going to bed after midnight and being drunk and noisy(large group of people in a course) extractor fans in rooms really noisy all night. We haven’t really slept at all. Really tired and unimpressed. One night stay for 1 is £145. So not cheap. The grounds could do with tidying up as builder bags around and overgrown grass. Overall not impressed. Not coming back.

A group of us are hiking the Ridgway and this place was everything we needed after a long days hike and more, they offered us a pitch for a small tent and offered kindness glorious food good vibes and advice on camping locations further along our route :) 10/5

Lovely pub with friendly and helpful staff and beautiful rooms. We've visited a few times and always been happy. We were a little disappointed by the menu on this last visit and food, although perfectly good was a little underwhelming compared to previous visits when we have been wowed. Still well worth a visit

Outside only for drinks but that was cute! Festival vibe, buzzy atmosphere. Retro street food out of cool trailer. Wood burning pizza oven. Tree trunk stools.All a bit rustic chic! Loved it

Unbelievable food and fantastic, friendly service. Just the place to sit outside on a summery evening and while away the time over a few drinks. We'll definitely be back to support the pub when restrictions lift even further.

We had a fantastic meal in the garden - magical location. We had the pork secretos. So full of flavour and the portions were vast. Staff were excellent too. Great evening.

Went for a lovely lunch today at the Royal Oak, polite and warm greeting and a seat in the sun. Checked out the menu, ordered a "Jurassic pork chop" and a burger. Informed as the chop is soooooo big it will take longer to cook. We were in no rush and enjoyed a quiet drink with happy Burble of our fellow diners. When the food arrived it looked and smelled delicious and the Jurassic pork chop lived up to its name! Both our meals were delicious, the salad with the chop was fresh and tasty and the jacket potato was creamy and melt in the mouth. A wonderful way to gently ease back into dining out and we look forward to returning soon with friends. Thank you to all at The Royal Oak

Booked a table in the garden which they had given away to someone else. Alternative table was in front of compost heap, was old and in the shade. Garden unkept. Eventually caught someones attention and ordered food. Food arrived and had to go find cutlery and condiments myself. Salad arrived undressed. Pizza was good. Spoke to owner who was wandering about and he offered our food foc. Disappointing as we had heard so much about this place.

Great experience dining al fresco. Wood fired pizza was delicious 😋

Absolutely wonderful! We live locally and visit regularly as a family. The staff as wonderful, the rooms are wonderful, the food is wonderful. My favourite pub ever - and there's a lot of competition! Everything is organic and home grown, and you can really taste it... The staff who work there never fail to make your day. Could not recommend more.

Had amazing time.. staff all friendly and welcoming.. would recommend

Absolutely fabulous ..went here for my 60th birthday ...the staff , the food , the atmosphere all superb ..we stayed at the hotel and rooms were so cosy and comfortable ..highly reccomend

Great place, great decor, great ethos, great accommodation and farm tour highly recommended, was great, very informative 👍

Out of the way location. Excellent rooms, faultless service and of course perfect food. This place puts many other hosts to shame with their level of service and hospitality.

Breakfast next to the fire and first outing for the puppy! Third time eating at the pub. The food and drink taste great and the staff are always friendly and efficient. Can't recommend enough.

Helens standards have slipped considerably. Unpalatable is an understatement. Would recommend to avoid. 1 out of 10

Nice wide menu with something for everyone, decent selection of beers for a tied pub too. Quality of food was excellent, along with the service. The pork dishes are always my favourite, you know the quality is going to be good as the pork comes from their own organic pigs. During summer weekends find them cooking sour dough pizzas in the wood fired oven in the garden.