Set out to explore Oxfordshire, and chances are you’ll end up with a day centred around food and drink. That might be an afternoon hopping between cosy country pubs, a mooch around the shops, cafés and bars of Oxford’s 18th century covered market or even a trip to one of the county’s breweries. Though it’s home to Oxford, much of the wider county is rural – as much as three quarters of it is farmland, and it’s lucky enough to include parts of three Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty; the Cotswolds, North Wessex Downs and Chilterns. That has forged the sort of special connection with food and drink often found in rural regions, with a rich harvest of local produce and clutch of traditional recipes to its name.

A deep-rooted love of food and drink creates, in turn, a fertile breeding ground for chefs. Though Oxfordshire only has two Michelin-starred restaurants to its name – the one-star Nut Tree Inn and the two-star Le Manoir aux Quat'Sasions – there are many other examples of fantastic fine dining, from Pompette in Oxford suburb Summertown to Paul Welburn’s Cygnet and The Wild Rabbit in Chipping Norton. There's also an impressive collection of gastropubs in the countryside, as well as increasingly diverse – and often affordable, thanks to its student population – restaurants to choose from in Oxford itself. Locals often make a beeline for the south-east of the city the Cowley area, which is bursting with authentic Caribbean, Tibetan, Thai, Spanish and North African flavours, to name just a few. Elsewhere in the city, there are popular Saturday markets and artisan cheese and wine shops which are perfect when it comes to stocking up for a night at home. In short, whether you’re after a city break or a taste of something special in the countryside, there’s a foodie trip for you in Oxfordshire.

Nestled in the tranquil Oxfordshire countryside is Le Manoir aux Quat'Sasions, a giant of fine dining which has held its two Michelin stars for over thirty years (legendary chef-patron Raymond Blanc gained them a year after opening in 1984). Next year, Le Manoir will celebrate its fortieth birthday, a milestone which falls during a season of change for the country house hotel. At the start of 2023, Luke Selby returned as its executive head chef, having spent the early days of his career there as a sixteen-year-old on work experience (he later rejoined full-time and rose through the ranks, becoming its sous chef). And though Le Manoir is by no means a local restaurant, drawing in diners from across the world, Luke believes it plays an important role in the local community. ‘It’s had a huge impact on the restaurant scene and Raymond has been at the top of his game for forty years or so,’ he says. ‘I think an amazing thing is that he’s been a big advocate for training and developing and supporting local suppliers, farmers and producers within the area.'

When he moved, Luke swapped the bustle of London's Chinatown – where his previous restaurant Evelyn's Table, for which he and his brothers Nathaniel and Theo earned a Michelin star, was based – for the rolling countryside of Oxfordshire, manicured gardens and produce grown right on the doorstep. ‘I really enjoy being in the countryside, and I love the fact that there’s lots of amazing little pubs,’ he says. ‘It’s really fun to explore and there is a really amazing food scene, not just at Michelin level, but some amazing brasseries and pubs too.’ He points to Pompette, headed up by Pascal and Laura Wiedemann, and The Lamb in Little Milton, which is newly helmed by an ex-Manoir chef, as pockets of excellence.

Chef Paul Welburn first moved to Oxford six years ago to take over Oxford Kitchen, where he quickly attracted a Michelin star, the city's first since Raymond Blanc's now-closed Petit Blanc was give one in 1996. Today, he runs The Cygnet at Swan Inn in Islip, crafting fine dining menus in a seventeenth century Cotswolds stone pub. ‘Oxford has some great suppliers and produce – being landlocked it allows the land to speak, and the growers to shine,’ he says, pointing to non-profit Hilary's Honey as an example, which is based on the edge of Oxford, as well as the Cotswolds Distillery's whiskys, gins and rums and vineyard Hundred Hills, which produces his house sparkling wine. 

‘When I arrived in 2017, Oxford had pockets of restaurants but not so many independents,’ he says. ‘The centre is still a little lacking in those small, independent restaurants but it’s improving and not so reliant on the chains. Since my Oxford Kitchen days, when I previously brought the first Michelin star to the city for over thirty years, there have been several places like Pompette, Arbequina and Bhoomi Kitchen that have made a name for themselves. Hopefully more will open in time and I do believe there is a shift in chefs moving out of the big cities and into places like Oxfordshire and stamping their mark.’

Oxfordshire has a proud tradition of brewing, and over the last decade has added a flurry of new micro-breweries to its line-up. There are great pubs to be found on every corner, including The Bell in Langford run by Tom Noest, a traditional inn with views over the countryside which made Estrella Dam’s Top 50 Gastropubs for 2023. Elsewhere, there's The Wild Rabbit in Kingham, The Sir Charles Napier in Chinnor and The Lamb in Crawley (all of which get a nod in the Michelin guide) and The Three Horseshoes in Witney (which, having been faced with closure, has been bought by the former manager and locals). When it comes to breweries, there are thought to be over forty in total, ranging in size atnd style, but the best-known is arguably Hook Norton, a family-owned Victorian Tower brewery just outside of Chipping Norton which was first founded in 1849.

In the city, a point of pride is the Tap Social Movement social enterprise, which was founded in 2016 to create training and employment opportunities for people in prison and prison leavers. So far, it's resulted in over 75,000 hours of paid work, as well as producing an award-winning range of craft beers at its north Oxford brewery, alongside more experimental, small-batch brews at the flagship taproom in west Oxford.

Though traditional, local recipes rarely travel outside an area's borders or make appearances on restaurant menus, they're cherished in their communities. Oxfordshire, it turns out, has plenty it lays claim to, including prized Oxfordshire sausages, which were traditionally made with pork, veal, sage and thyme, and references for which go back as far as at least the eighteenth century. There's also Banbury cakes, a popular sweet pastry treat filled with currants, sugar, spices and candied peel (somewhere between a mince pie and an Eccles cake), as well as Oxford blue cheese, Oxford bishop, a mulled port drink, and Oxford sauce, a local, spicy, version of brown sauce. 

Perhaps best-known, though, are the county's links to marmalade. While Oxford can't lay claim to having invented it, in the 1870s Sarah Cooper stumbled on a winning recipe that included chunky bites of peel from Seville oranges. Her creation became popular locally, so much so that her husband Frank began selling it, initially within the area and, later, further afield. After a decade, he opened a factory in the city and Sarah's marmalade began to gain recognition internationally. It's still sold today, and the term Oxford marmalade is often used to describe a style of thick-cut, dark, bitter orange marmalade.

Whether you're visiting with a view to fine dining, sampling some of the best street food bites in the city or stocking up on quality produce for a home-cooked feast, there's no end of options to explore in Oxfordshire.