The Old Oak Tree South Kilvington - 13 years of local produce, developments and home made grub at the family run pub
We travelled north from the brewery on this trip to visit our next ‘Friends of Rudgate’ blog location. Just past Thirsk sits the small village of South Kilvington and on the main road through the village you’d be hard pressed to miss The Old Oak Tree, the only pub in the village.
The pub backs onto a stunning beer garden which leads down to fields where kids can play whilst their grown ups enjoy a tipple or two. The weather was pretty grey and so the photos don’t really do it justice but I’ve been informed that in summer months the garden is a real trap for the sunshine.
The pub is owned by Laurette and husband Nick as well as having other family members who work with them. They bought the pub in 2010 (1st May will mark 13 years since they took it over!) and refurbished it in six weeks before they opened their doors. In 2012 they also added five rooms for overnight stays. The rooms are located just next door to the pub and means very easy access to Laurette’s homemade, local food and ever changing real ales.
It’s a pub that knows its customers very well. Laurette told us that they get a mixture of tourists, locals and business people, but that they are ‘busy all the time’. We were visiting just a couple of weeks before Mothers Day, which is usually their busiest day of the year as people flock to the pretty location for a proper home cooked meal and the lovely views.
Laurette also owns lambs, which live down in the fields at the bottom of the property. You can’t get much more local than that for your produce! ‘Laurette’s Lamb’ will appear on the menu along with other specials that locals and tourists alike seem to love.
We asked about their experience during Covid, ‘We started doing takeaway food almost straight away, people were even bringing their own plates.’ They still do takeaway food now as a result of that and Laurette told us their custom came back quite quickly and they are doing well in the post Covid world.
Now to the beer. The day we visited, the bar had just had our newest lager, HUS installed, which was exciting to see. Laurette told us that they’re always changing up their beer offering and she was keen to see how it would go down.
Our Viking Golden has a permanent home on the bar here too. Rudgate have been supplying to The Old Oak Tree for many years but they also like to change up their other ales a lot so you’re likely to find some other great local ales on the pumps if you’re nearby.
Find out more about the Old Oak Tree on their website here and their Facebook account.
You can book a table or room via their website.