Bucks &amp; Oxon


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crazy-bear-update">CRAZY BEAR UPDATE</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="666" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/CRAZYBEAR.jpg" alt="Crazy Bear" class="wp-image-181457" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/CRAZYBEAR.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/CRAZYBEAR-800x533.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/CRAZYBEAR-400x266.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>In our Superflash news! feature on 21 January 2025 we wrote about the return of the Crazy Bear after it had gone into administration over Christmas 2024.&nbsp;In that we said that former owner Jason Hunt has left the business, taking the group&#8217;s debt with him.&nbsp;This reference was included based on information provided to us by a source that we had relied on in good faith.&nbsp; Jason has told us that he has not been involved in the Crazy Bear since June 2023 and has not taken on any liabilities for the group&#8217;s debt.&nbsp;We are happy to make that clear and apologise to Jason for any distress caused by our article.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-midas-touch">MIDAS TOUCH</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/3/2025/02/MISSOMA.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-183850" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/MISSOMA.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/MISSOMA-800x600.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/MISSOMA-400x300.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The new Missoma store, Marlow high street</figcaption></figure>



<p>Marlow already sets the gold standard for shopping, but now cult jewellery brand <a href="https://www.missoma.com/pages/marlow-store-sign-up" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Missoma</a> is adding extra sparkle. The new Missoma boutique (only its second outside London) opened this week – and, naturally, Muddy popped along to check it out. Trust us, you&#8217;ll find it difficult to leave without armfuls of founder Marisa Hordern&#8217;s contemporary gold and silver bling. It&#8217;s an Aladdin&#8217;s cave of everything from charm anklets to those influencer-adored gold chain necklaces and oversized hoop earrings. You can even get your ears pierced here (Thur to Sun) – or choose a charm bracket to have welded to your wrist in store (yes really), as a shiny forever token. Celeb fans of this not-too spenny fashion-forward brand include Kendall Jenner, Florence Pugh, Emily Ratajkowski, Bella Hadid, and even Kate, Princess of Wales. The credit card definitely took a battering.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-flippin-good-fun">FLIPPIN&#8217; GOOD FUN</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="667" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/OLNEYPANCAKERACE.jpg" alt="Olney pancake race " class="wp-image-183868" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/OLNEYPANCAKERACE.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/OLNEYPANCAKERACE-800x534.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/OLNEYPANCAKERACE-400x267.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>Head up to Olney in North Bucks on Shrove Tuesday and you&#8217;re in for a quirky treat. The market town is under starter&#8217;s orders for its annual <a href="http://olneypancakerace.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pancake Race</a> on Tue 4 Mar, which is a 415ft dash from the Market Place to the church. To add to the flipping good fun, the all-female runners wear a skirt and a headscarf and carry a frying pan – PLUS PANCAKE – along for the ride.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="700" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/OLNEYHISTORICRACE.jpg" alt="Olney historic pancake race" class="wp-image-183870" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/OLNEYHISTORICRACE.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/OLNEYHISTORICRACE-800x560.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/OLNEYHISTORICRACE-400x280.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>Olney&#8217;s now world-famous event dates back to 1445, when local legend has it that a harassed housewife, hearing the shriving bell, sprinted to the church still carrying her frying pan. Ring any bells? If you live or work in Olney, you can enter for the 11.55am race <a href="http://olneypancakerace.org/">here</a> (there&#8217;s an earlier children&#8217;s race at 10am), or out-of-towners can come along for Olney&#8217;s Shrove Tuesday street feast, including a pancake breakfast cooked by local chef Ben Francis from <a href="https://www.thecherrytreeolney.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Cherry Tree</a>. It&#8217;s a toss-up! </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-literary-lunch">LITERARY LUNCH</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/3/2025/02/HENLEYLITFEST.jpg" alt="Henley Literary Festival news" class="wp-image-183888" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/HENLEYLITFEST.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/HENLEYLITFEST-800x800.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/HENLEYLITFEST-400x400.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/HENLEYLITFEST-500x500.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Author Jojo Moyes (left) with interviewer Leah Boleto at the 2025 Henley Literary Festival</figcaption></figure>



<p>If your scroll time is hitting an unhealthy double digits, maybe it&#8217;s time to pick up a good book… and wine (it&#8217;s all about balance). Well, hold the front page because the Henley Literary Festival is hosting its first-ever Supper Club, in partnership with Laithwaites wines. The big day is Wed 26 Mar in the marquee at The Red Lion pub in Peppard Common, where guests seated at convivial long trestle tables will tuck in to a six-course tasting menu. Each course (think Asian spiced pork belly and duck breast with plum ketchup) will be paired with a fine wine chosen by Laithwaites – and as the vino flows, the storytelling will unfold too. <a href="https://www.henleyliteraryfestival.co.uk/events/henley-literary-festival-supper-club/?dm_i=49PO,1PV0J,5DG64V,8242Z,1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Book here</a> for £85pp.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-travel-tales">TRAVEL TALES</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/3/2024/12/THEGREYHOUND.jpg" alt="The Greyhound, Beaconsfield" class="wp-image-179507" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/THEGREYHOUND.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/THEGREYHOUND-800x800.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/THEGREYHOUND-400x400.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/THEGREYHOUND-500x500.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The Greyhound, Beaconsfield</figcaption></figure>



<p>While you&#8217;re wearing your roomiest pants, leave space for a slap-up feast at <a href="https://bucksoxon.muddystilettos.co.uk/little-black-book/directory/greyhound-beaconsfield/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Greyhound in Beaconsfield</a>, because owners Daniel and Margriet Crump are launching a travel lunch club – and you&#8217;re all invited. To kick off the series on Wed 5 Mar, Major Paul Whittle, vice chair of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society, will tell his travel tales of Darjeeling and its mountain railways over a bibulous three-course lunch (tickets include wine and plenty of bubbles). It&#8217;s £75pp but this is such an intimate affair there&#8217;s no online booking. Instead, you&#8217;ll have to go analogue and give the team a tinkle on 01494 671315. Old school rules!</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-steak-out">STEAK OUT</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/3/2024/07/The-Thatch-Thame-garden-2.jpg" alt="The Thatch" class="wp-image-166513" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/07/The-Thatch-Thame-garden-2.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/07/The-Thatch-Thame-garden-2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/07/The-Thatch-Thame-garden-2-400x400.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/07/The-Thatch-Thame-garden-2-500x500.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>Here at Muddy we&#8217;re big fans of <a href="https://bucksoxon.muddystilettos.co.uk/little-black-book/directory/the-thatch-thame/">The Thatch, Thame</a> – our go-to for top-notch pub food and long afternoons on the outdoor terrace (sunshine pending). Well, we hope you&#8217;re hungry because this award-winning gastropub has just launched a new steak night every Thursday, offering prime cuts from celeb butcher (and Royal Warrant holder) Aubrey Allen. Drop by for food fit for a King – if you&#8217;re lucky, the pub will crack open a Magnum specially for the occasion. Cheers to that.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-taste-of-japan">TASTE OF JAPAN</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/3/2025/02/RAMENKORNEROXFORD.jpg" alt="Ramen Korner Oxford news" class="wp-image-183896" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/RAMENKORNEROXFORD.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/RAMENKORNEROXFORD-800x800.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/RAMENKORNEROXFORD-400x400.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/RAMENKORNEROXFORD-500x500.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>Ramen fans, rejoice. Oxford has a new Japanese restaurant, called <a href="https://www.ramenkorner.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ramen Korner</a>, which opened in the 18th-century building on the corner of the High Street and Longwall Street last week. Head here for urban street-style comfort food made with fresh ingredients and authentic flavours (think chicken broth ramen, Japanese small plates, takoyaki balls, and rice bowls) – and the owners say they&#8217;re dishing up some &#8220;great vibes&#8221; too. We&#8217;ll be along for a sake like a shot.</p>


Newsflash! Chic new boutiques and foodie feasts

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