Michael Dibb, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Eat and drink · Upper and Lower Swell
The Golden Ball
A Donnington Brewery pub in Lower Swell, about a mile west of Stow-on-the-Wold, run by a mother and daughter, Fiona and Becky, with homemade pub food, a beer garden and dogs allowed throughout.
Dog-friendly · Family-friendly
The village local done properly: Donnington ales, big homemade plates and dogs in every room. It is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, and midweek the kitchen stops at 8pm, so plan around it.
- Good: Donnington ales and homemade food
- Good: Dogs on leads allowed everywhere but the kitchen
- Good: Children's menu, Sunday roasts included
- Good: Beer garden in summer, a fire in winter
- Worth knowing: Closed Mondays and Tuesdays
- Worth knowing: £10 a head deposit for tables of more than four (2026)
About
The Golden Ball is the pub in Lower Swell, the village on the B4068 about a mile west of Stow-on-the-Wold. The building, listed Grade II, was a farmhouse of about 1700. It is a tied house of Donnington Brewery, which has brewed in a former watermill at Donnington since 1865, and it is run by a mother and daughter, Fiona and Becky. Fiona grew up in the village and worked behind this bar as a teenager.
The cooking is homemade and generous. In autumn and winter that means pies and stews, alongside fish and chips in a Donnington beer batter, a burger, and two soups a day with a warm cheese scone or half a sandwich or toastie. Sunday brings roasts. Meat comes from farms close by and some vegetables from the village allotments, the pub says. There are vegetarian dishes but no vegan menu, and the children's menu runs to the Sunday roast. There are a couple of high chairs.
Food is served at lunch and in the early evening from Wednesday to Saturday, and from noon to 3.30pm on Sundays. The pub is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Dogs on leads may go anywhere except the kitchen, and there are water bowls and a jar of treats. Book ahead, by phone, email or online: tables of more than four pay a deposit of £10 a head, taken off the bill and refundable up to 48 hours before.
The Stow and Lower Swell walk crosses the green, and the pub is a short walk along the road from there. Behind it, the Old Bottle Store, once the pub's beer store, is now a one-up, one-down flat let through Airbnb. Its Airbnb listing gives it one double bed and an upstairs shower room for two guests, self check-in with a lockbox, free parking on the premises, and dogs allowed.
Opening hours and season
Food served
| Monday | Closed |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | Closed |
| Wednesday | 12:00 to 14:00, 18:00 to 20:00 |
| Thursday | 12:00 to 14:00, 18:00 to 20:00 |
| Friday | 12:00 to 14:30, 18:00 to 20:30 |
| Saturday | 12:00 to 14:30, 18:00 to 20:30 |
| Sunday | 12:00 to 15:30 |
Closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Open from midday Wednesday to Saturday, and noon to 6pm on Sundays. Hours change on bank holidays, at Christmas, Easter and in Cheltenham race week.
The details
- Food
- Pub classics
- Serving
- Lunch · Dinner · Sunday lunch
- Dietary
- Vegetarian dishes · Children's menu
- Booking a table
- Booking recommended
- Features
- Garden or terrace · Real ale · Open fire · Dogs inside
- History
- Farmhouse of about 1700, listed Grade II, now a Donnington Brewery pub
Photos
A bedroom 
A roast by the window 
The door to the Old Bottle Store
Location
Places to stay nearby
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Stow Lodge Hotel
Hotel · Stow-on-the-Wold
A family-run hotel with 20 rooms in Stow's former rectory of 1763 on the Square, with a restaurant, a bar, gardens and a private car park; no pets.
Verified Oct 2026
-
The Old Stocks Inn
Inn · Stow-on-the-Wold
A seventeenth-century coaching inn on the Square at Stow-on-the-Wold, with 16 rooms and a restaurant with two AA Rosettes.
Dog-friendly
Verified Oct 2026
-
The Kings Arms, Stow
Inn · Stow-on-the-Wold
A former coaching inn on Stow's Market Square with ten rooms, three of them split-level stable rooms, a restaurant and its own parking.
Dog-friendly
Verified Oct 2026
Nearby walks, places and things to do
- Red Rag Gallery 1.6 km away
- Huffkins, Stow-on-the-Wold 1.6 km away
- Stow Lodge Hotel 1.7 km away
- Durham House Antiques 1.7 km away
Sights nearby
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Lower Swell war memorial
Sight · Monument · Stow-on-the-Wold
Lower Swell's war memorial is a flaming urn on a stone pedestal on the village green, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and unveiled in 1921. Lutyens had worked at Abbotswood nearby for Mark Fenwick. It is on the Stow and Lower Swell walk, open at all times. Grade II.
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St Mary's Church, Lower Swell
Sight · Church · Stow-on-the-Wold
St Mary's at Lower Swell, a mile west of Stow, is two churches in one: a twelfth-century nave and chancel, now the south aisle and chapel, beside a larger church of 1852. Its Norman doorway has a Tree of Life tympanum and its old chancel arch rare carvings. Grade II*.
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Pineapple Spa, Lower Swell
Sight · Historic building · Stow-on-the-Wold
The Pineapple Spa is a row of cottages beside the B4068 between Lower Swell and Stow-on-the-Wold that began as a spa over a mineral spring found in 1807, with a front in the Indian style of Sezincote and a stone door hood crowned by a pineapple. Grade II*; private.
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St Edward's Church, Stow-on-the-Wold
Sight · Church · Stow-on-the-Wold
St Edward's is Stow-on-the-Wold's Grade I parish church, beside the Market Square, with a fifteenth-century tower seen across the wold and a north door framed by two yews. Royalist prisoners were held inside after the battle of 1646. Open daily.