The Fleece Inn is a charming black and white, half-timbered village pub with a partly tiled, partly thatched roof.
The inn began life in the 14th century as a one-storey long house that would have sheltered a farmer and his stock under the one roof.
Alterations were made to the building in the Tudor and Elizabethan periods and in 1848 the farmhouse became a licenced house, when Henry Byrd Taplin decided to become a publican rather than a farmer.
The description 'licenced house' was quite suitable because the Fleece Inn was just that.
Henry Taplin sold beer and cider from his home and beer was still being brewed for sale in the back kitchen of the building well into the 20th century.
What was once the byre for the animals, at the south end of the building, became the beer cellar. The tradition was continued into the late 1970s by Henry's great-grand-daughter, Lola Taplin, who ran the Fleece Inn until her death in 1977.
Despite renovation the Fleece Inn is still very much as it was in the 19th century.
The worn flagstones, exposed timber beams and open log fires give the building a feeling of great age, as do the family's collection of furniture and ornaments.
The Fleece Inn is a great rarity - a country pub in the care of the National Trust.
The Trust has leased the inn to CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, and it is fitting that traditional beer should continue to be served in such an historic setting.
