A perfect day in Marlow

No trip to Marlow is complete without sampling Tom Kerridge’s creations. Sit down for pub grub at The Coach or head to The Butcher’s Tap for food on the go. Pick up one of the mammoth pork pies and wash it down with a crafty half from the bar that doubles up as a butcher’s during the day.

Get cosy in The Two Brewers. The welcoming, redbrick-fronted building is the oldest pub in Marlow and serves cask ales from local brewery Rebellion. If you’re in town on the first Tuesday of the month, head to the brewery itself for an evening of tours and tastings straight from the tap.

Cross Grade I-listed Marlow Bridge. Fun fact: this suspension bridge was designed by William Tierney Clark and later used as the template for a structure he built to connect Buda and Pest in Hungary. Fancy walking off that pork pie from lunch? Go for a stroll along the Thames Path and spot wildlife on the river.

Browse vintage and modern designs at antique specialist Sara Hughes, where you can also take a workshop on how to upcycle charity-shop finds. If threads are more your thing, make a beeline for the dapper menswear in Hewett's. 

Marlow had its fair share of famous faces long before celebrity chefs became a thing. Head out on a blue plaque-hunting adventure and find the building where fantastically named 1930s jazz bandleader Ken ‘Snakehips’ Johnson studied, the place TS Eliot called home during WWI and the spot where Mary Shelley wrote ‘Frankenstein’.

The Hand & Flowers, the first pub ever to receive two Michelin stars also has beds where you can lay your head. In keeping with the amazing food, the nearby cottages are no ordinary B&Bs. Rooms come with antique furniture, four-poster beds, enormous copper baths, and even hot tubs. Book a suite in Flower Cottage to make sure you’re close to the main attraction and prepare to be spoilt rotten. With afternoon tea on arrival, a malted-milk nightcap left waiting for you while you’re at dinner or the king of fry-ups the morning after, you won’t be in a rush to return to real life. From £240 a night.