IT'S the riverside pub on both the South Downs Way and Meon Valley Trail where customers can pick up bread baked on the premises or homemade ice cream.

The Shoe Inn at Exton has its own 'Hampshire Pantry', boasting sauces, jams, chutneys, breads and coffee beans made on the premises using the freshest local ingredients.

It also enjoys a large riverside garden with fantastic views of Old Winchester Hill. Swans, ducks, herons, egrets and occasionally a kingfisher visit. An ice cream shack and barbecue do a roaring trade in the summer months, while a garden den serves meats, king prawns and paella and a heated outdoor stretch tent erected outside during Covid has proved a popular now permanent fixture.

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Visitors are currently enjoying favourites like pork belly, steak, mushroom and red wine pie, beer battered fish and chips and roast pork and beef on Sundays from the local butcher in West Meon, all in front of a roaring fire.

The pub was once the site of a cobbler and was previously in the pub garden across the lane until regular flooding prompted the decision to rebuild it across the road and on higher ground.

Owners Annabel Terry and Patrick Young took over the pub 13 years ago. It has won many awards during their time at the helm and now boasts a sister pub. The Bucks Head, half a mile away in Meonstoke, was taken on just before the first lockdown.

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Locals and visitors alike love the well-kept real ales on offer, as well as Birra Moretti, Beavertown Neck Oil and a large selection of gins. The local sparkling wine from Exton Park vineyard in the village is a firm favourite on the extensive wine list.

Annabel told the Daily Echo: "Everyday is different. It's great meeting so many different types of people from couples and families to cyclists and walkers and working with great staff that have become our friends over the years.

"The physical aspect keeps you fit and it's wonderful living in such a beautiful village. We're very proud of the businesses we've built."

  • The Shoe Inn is our pub of the week. If you'd like us to feature your watering hole, click on the link below or email lorelei.reddin@dailyecho.co.uk
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