Horse

drawn

Derelict for three years, the White Horse is now an award-winning destination dining venue. Mark Taylor meets the couple who transformed the Cotswolds pub

Ask Shaun and Emma Davis what they would change about their award-winning Cotswolds gastro pub and there's only one answer ­ "the exterior".

Situated on the A419 between Stroud and Cirencester, the White Horse at Frampton Mansell is certainly far-removed from the chocolate box image of many Cotswold hostelries.

"Although it's an ugly building on the outside, people tell us they quite like that because it's like a tardis once you're inside," laughs Emma, who took over the pub with her husband in 2001.

Its plain stone exterior may not have the charm of its honey-coloured pub neighbours, but step inside and it's a stylish space with a relaxed bar and contemporary restaurant feel.

When the couple took over the freehold of the White Horse, the pub was derelict and had been closed for three and a half years.

A photograph album in the bar shows customers a pictorial history of how the pub was transformed from a dusty, empty shell into the destination dining venue it is today.

"If we had known what was involved at the time, we would have probably said no'," confides Emma.

"It took us two and a half months of serious hard work to get it to what it is now.

"The electricity and the central heating all had to be replaced and it went from what we thought was just a lick of paint to a complete overhaul. But I'm glad we were naïve because it made us do it."

The Davises have exceeded all expectations with their resuscitation of the empty roadside pub, which has appeared in most guidebooks almost since they opened.

Their latest award, for National Dining Pub of the Year in Les Routiers Pubs and Inns Guide 2005, is further acknowledge-ment of the couple's hard work and determination to make the White Horse one of the best food pubs in the region.

"The Les Routiers Award was incredibly important," says Shaun. "We didn't realise at first quite what an effect it would have but in the first few weeks after it was announced, it went mad. We had two days off in about eight weeks."

When the White Horse opened, Shaun was cooking full-time, but since then, he has handed over the reins to Howard Matthews, who also worked with the couple at the Hare and Hounds.

Between them, the two chefs create seasonal menus, sourcing as much Cotswolds produce as possible, with an emphasis on rare-breed meats from a small local butcher and game from the shoot on the Badminton estate.

"Everything is made here, including the stocks," says Shaun. "It's modern British cooking: we're not overly fussy and it's simple food. We've just gone back to basics."

The Davises arrived at the White Horse with something of a reputation for good food. Shaun had worked as a chef at the Feathers Hotel in Woodstock and the Marsh Goose restaurant in Moreton-in-Marsh, as well as the Churchill at Paxford, which is where he spotted the first signs of the rise of gastro pubs.

He says: "I noticed that there had been a sudden shift in dining in the late '90s. We were doing 100 covers a night at the Churchill, and just 30 a night at the Marsh Goose, which was a country restaurant and at the time seen as the jewel in the crown in the Cotswolds. Sadly, it's closed now."

The couple had also run the Hare and Hounds at Fosse Cross, and they soon found that many of their old customers had followed them.

Since moving to Frampton Mansell, they have also formed good working relationships with two of their award-winning gastro pub neighbours, the Bell at Sapperton and the Trouble House at Tetbury.

"There's a healthy competition between the three of us," says Shaun. "We're very friendly with both pubs because we also enjoy them as customers.

"I think all three of us offer different things and have different strengths as well as serving good food, but if we're full we'll send people to the other two and they do the same. It's important to have a strong relationship with other businesses in the area."