Our location is to die for... just off the village green in the small North Oxfordshire village of Tackley is a group of four converted farm buildings. We work out of what’s known as The Old Joinery – named because its first occupant was a joiner called Chris.
The whole site is called Manor Farm Barns which originally formed part of one of two manor estates in Tackley.
Manor Farm Barns have been home to EOS HQ since 1989. Each of the four buildings in the courtyard have their own story to tell, having once formed part of the Tackley Park estate. There are two Grade II* listed buildings which date from 1616: John Harborne’s Pigeon House – a beautiful three-storey Dovecote – and John Harborne’s Stables – a tall, two-storey thatched building which is said to be a “very fine example of a 17th century stable” (Historic England).
Behind the site are fields, usually filled with cattle grazing. It’s tranquil, to say the least… and of course very photogenic.
How to get here
Tackley is eight miles north of Oxford, just off the A4260 Oxford to Banbury road. Junctions 9 and 10 of the M40 motorway are only seven miles away.
If travelling north (from Oxford towards Banbury) on the A4260, take the turn for Tackley opposite Sturdy's Castle, down Church Hill onto Medcroft Road, then bear left when you reach the village green. The entrance for EOS magazine is up the gravel driveway on your left.
If you are travelling south on the A4260 (Oxford direction) take the single-track road on the left (signposted for Tackley) about two miles south of Hopcroft's Holt (garage at junction of The Holt Hotel and Jet petrol station). This road turns into Ball Lane. Follow down to the bottom of the road and as you reach the corner of the village green turn right into the gravel entrance.
The main doors for each of the four buildings are in the courtyard, and The Old Joinery has a sign on the window panelled door. There is ample parking around the outside of the buildings – please do not park in the courtyard itself so that it can be kept clear for deliveries.