Bucks &amp; Oxon


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-lowdown">THE LOWDOWN</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="704" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/DANESFIELDEXTERIOR.jpg" alt="Danesfield House" class="wp-image-180873" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/DANESFIELDEXTERIOR.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/DANESFIELDEXTERIOR-800x563.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/DANESFIELDEXTERIOR-400x282.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Danesfield House Hotel, Marlow</figcaption></figure>



<p>I intended to do Dry January, honestly I did. But then the lovely people at <a href="https://danesfieldhouse.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Danesfield House Hotel</a> insisted I should include the wine pairing in my new review of <a href="https://danesfieldhouse.co.uk/dining">The Oak Room</a> restaurant and, well, any virtuous intentions went out of the window faster than you can uncork a bottle of Les Mougeottes Pinot Noir (delicious, by the way).</p>



<p>So, just ten days in to the New Year, we swooshed up to Danesfield House by taxi to sample the seven-course tasting menu recently introduced by executive chef Matthew Edmonds (it&#8217;s a tough job). You&#8217;ll remember that <a href="https://bucksoxon.muddystilettos.co.uk/travel/uk/hotels-inns/danesfield-house-hotel-review/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Danesfield House</a>, a neo Tudor-style spa hotel a mile or so outside town on the Henley road, was put on the map when George and Amal Clooney chose it as the venue for their UK wedding in 2014. But hospitality venues can&#8217;t dine out on celebrity kudos forever, and Edmonds was brought in to the hot seat just under a year ago with the brief to re-establish Danesfield as a top-tier fine dining destination locally – no mean feat in a town that&#8217;s already stuffed to the gills with top-flight chefs, from Tom Kerridge&#8217;s fiefdom to Atul Kochhar at Sindhu and Simon Bonwick and Scott Smith as the upstairs/downstairs double act at The Oarsman.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/MATTEDMONDS.jpg" alt="Danesfield House" class="wp-image-180899" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/MATTEDMONDS.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/MATTEDMONDS-800x800.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/MATTEDMONDS-400x400.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/MATTEDMONDS-500x500.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Executive chef Matt Edmonds</figcaption></figure>



<p>Edmonds isn&#8217;t fazed, though – he reckons there&#8217;s enough well-heeled passing trade to go round. He&#8217;s cooked for Boris Johnson, after all (while at Searcys at The Gherkin in the City of London), plus spells at The Mandeville Hotel in Marylebone and Brocket Hall&#8217;s Auberge du Lac (during ownership by both Dieter Klostermann and Chinese billionaire Yu Songbo). His <a href="https://danesfieldhouse.co.uk/sites/default/files/Oak%20Room%20Tasting%20Menu%20%26%20Wine%20Pairings.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">spruced-up menu</a> at The Oak Room, designed to reheat Danesfield&#8217;s fine-dining rep, is ambitious – but having already been awarded two AA Rosettes for his zhuzhed-up menu at Danesfield&#8217;s main restaurant <a href="https://danesfieldhouse.co.uk/dining" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Orangery</a>, this modest chef (his words) seems confident he can pull it off.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-vibe">THE VIBE</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="750" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/THEOAKROOM1.jpg" alt="Danesfield House" class="wp-image-180876" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/THEOAKROOM1.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/THEOAKROOM1-800x600.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/THEOAKROOM1-400x300.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The Oak Room, Danesfield House</figcaption></figure>



<p>The Oak Room is, as the name suggests, an oak panelled room elegantly appointed for formal dining with starched white tablecloths, an imposing iron chandelier and seven huge identikit mirrors hanging on the walls. Everything is either beige, white or cream here – from the lampshades to the chair covers and the faux floral displays. Whether you find the interior design too vanilla is a matter of personal taste (I longed for a dash of colour!). But there&#8217;s nothing bland about the food, an inventive array of Michelin-worthy morsels which were precisely executed by Edmonds and his sous chef and impeccably served by Ukrainian waitress Lisa, who had learnt near-perfect English in three years since leaving Ukraine.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-scoff-amp-quaff">SCOFF &amp; QUAFF</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="750" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/THEOAKROOMSCALLOPS.jpg" alt="Danesfield House" class="wp-image-180877" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/THEOAKROOMSCALLOPS.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/THEOAKROOMSCALLOPS-800x600.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/THEOAKROOMSCALLOPS-400x300.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Orkney scallop ceviche with lime, passionfruit, jalapeño and pomegranate</figcaption></figure>



<p>After a chilled glass of Prosecco, we started with the &#8216;snacks&#8217;: a deceptive name for what could have been a meal in itself (pace yourself on the home-made bread with chicken liver butter!). Enter sets of exquisitely light chicken liver mousse, a superior sushi-style salmon and oyster roll, and smoked eel fried in breadcrumbs that tasted like a mouthful of fish pie, comforting and warm. To drink, a glass of the extremely drinkable house white, a 2012 New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc – start as you mean to go on, right?</p>



<p>Then came scallop ceviche, which was like summer on a plate – sharp flavours of lime and jalapeño that let the subtler pomegranate and passionfruit have their moment to shine too. The wine pairing switched to France here – a light Les Mougeottes Pinot Noir from the Pays d&#8217;Oc.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="750" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/CHEESEDISH-copy.jpg" alt="Danesfield House" class="wp-image-180879" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/CHEESEDISH-copy.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/CHEESEDISH-copy-800x600.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/CHEESEDISH-copy-400x300.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Wigmore cheese with grape, raisin, wood sorrel and wild rice</figcaption></figure>



<p>Edmonds spent his childhood on a farm in Midhurst, West Sussex, and his grandparents were Hampshire dairy farmers, which ignited his passion for cooking and using fresh, seasonal produce. Everything on the tasting menu, bar the Orkney scallops, comes from local producers. Danesfield&#8217;s grounds are home to happy herds of Muntjac deer, but I didn&#8217;t like to ask whether they end up as Edmonds&#8217; locally sourced venison, which was presented with a flourish as course five with a unusual yet satisfying combination of beetroot, chocolate and blackberry. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="750" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/MUSHROOMS2-copy.jpg" alt="Danesfield House" class="wp-image-180881" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/MUSHROOMS2-copy.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/MUSHROOMS2-copy-800x600.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/MUSHROOMS2-copy-400x300.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Seasonal wild mushrooms with consommé, truffle and shallot</figcaption></figure>



<p>The two stand-out savoury dishes were the seasonal wild mushrooms served in a consommé with truffle and shallots – almost like a mushroom stew, meaty and full of wintry goodness. And you would travel far for the miso langoustine, which swam in a beautiful bisque sharpened by capers and radishes. Sandwiched between the two was a palate-cleansing confection of whipped Wigmore cheese with wild rice and wood sorrel, raisin and grape. This dish was so light it was like foam, and a welcome mid-point change of tempo. And as all these delights kept coming out of the kitchen, there was Lisa with <em>more</em> wine. An aromatic Puente de Salceda Verdejo from Spain to accompany the mushrooms, followed by Picpoul Pinet Organic Petit Roubi as match.com for the miso langoustine, and a spicy-nosed Nerello Mascalese Molino a Vento from Sicily with the venison course. I confess, by this point, Dry January was an increasingly hazy concept.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="597" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/LOBSTERBISQUE2-copy.jpg" alt="Danesfield House" class="wp-image-180880" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/LOBSTERBISQUE2-copy.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/LOBSTERBISQUE2-copy-800x478.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/LOBSTERBISQUE2-copy-400x239.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Miso langoustine with caper, radish, bisque and sea herbs</figcaption></figure>



<p>On the Friday night we visited, Edmonds was cooking the seven-course Oak Room tasting menu while also looking after guests in The Orangery and a private party. Only time for a quick chat, then, between spinning so many plates. You&#8217;d need Raymond Blanc to decipher the French cooking techniques he rattled off – so let&#8217;s just say chef hats off to the puddings. For one, he made the skin of an apple out of jelly, and filled it with rich creme anglaise. The second was a beautifully presented plate of white chocolate mousses with ginger and rhubarb. Their partners were two richly mellow sweet wines: a Les Garonelles Sauternes and a Hungarian Tokaji. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="750" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/PUDDINGJELLY-copy.jpg" alt="Danesfield House" class="wp-image-180883" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/PUDDINGJELLY-copy.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/PUDDINGJELLY-copy-800x600.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/PUDDINGJELLY-copy-400x300.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Pudding one: toffee apple</figcaption></figure>



<p>The damage for all this culinary artistry? It&#8217;s £110pp for the tasting menu, plus the wine pairing at either £40 for the Acorn Pairing or £60 for the Oak Pairing. The British economy may be as chilly as the Polar vortex right now, but even in these belt-tightening times, I&#8217;d say that&#8217;s pretty decent value. Tom Kerridge once told me he swims in the pool at Danesfield&#8217;s spa – if he hasn&#8217;t already, he should drop by to check out the competition.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-out-amp-about">OUT &amp; ABOUT</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="667" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/06/HobbsofHenley-0001-201-1920w-1000x667.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-146267" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/06/HobbsofHenley-0001-201-1920w-1000x667.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/06/HobbsofHenley-0001-201-1920w-800x533.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/06/HobbsofHenley-0001-201-1920w-400x267.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/06/HobbsofHenley-0001-201-1920w-788x525.jpg 788w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/06/HobbsofHenley-0001-201-1920w.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>With <a href="https://bucksoxon.muddystilettos.co.uk/best-places-to-live/buckinghamshire/marlow/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Marlow</a> and <a href="https://bucksoxon.muddystilettos.co.uk/best-places-to-live/oxfordshire/henley-on-thames/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Henley</a> both within a 15 minute drive, you’ve got chichi riverside mooching galore. Both have indie shopping as well as chic high street brands and and gorgeous riverside walks. National Trust-wise&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/greys-court">Greys Court</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/cliveden">Cliveden</a>&nbsp;are the closest, both with their own charms, and if you’re staying over with kids, the privately owned 850 year-old&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stonor.com/">Stonor Park</a>&nbsp;with its Tumblestone Hollow children’s play area is a winner. With the Thames so close, it’s a shame not to get on it (if not in it). The outdoor adventure centre&nbsp;<a href="https://www.longridge.org.uk/">Longridge</a>, just over the Marlow bridge, has got you covered with kayak, canoe, dragon boating and rafting experiences to book.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-muddy-verdict">THE MUDDY VERDICT</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/DANESFIELDGROUNDS.jpg" alt="Danesfield House" class="wp-image-180875" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/DANESFIELDGROUNDS.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/DANESFIELDGROUNDS-800x800.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/DANESFIELDGROUNDS-400x400.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/DANESFIELDGROUNDS-500x500.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">View over Danesfield&#8217;s grounds</figcaption></figure>



<p><strong>Good for:</strong> Danesfield House offers fine dining in the heart of arguably the buzziest culinary hotspot in the Southeast. Come for a big birthday, anniversary, or just a belt-loosening blow-out – you won&#8217;t be disappointed. </p>



<p><strong>Not for:</strong> The wine pairing is <em>technically</em> optional, but this isn&#8217;t one for the abstemious, or those counting calories. And the subtleties on the menu will be wasted on children&#8217;s beige palettes (there is no kids option), so leave them at home and keep The Oak Room an adults-only zone.</p>



<p><strong>By Harriet Dennys</strong></p>



<p><em>The tasting menu at The Oak Room at Danesfield House is served from Wednesday to Saturday, seating from 6pm-8.45pm. It costs £110pp plus £40/£60 wine pairing. Maximum table is six guests.</em> <em><a href="https://danesfieldhouse.co.uk/dining" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Book here</a>.</em></p>


Review: The Oak Room at Danesfield House Hotel, Marlow

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