Inside historic pub after transformation in Cheshire's "most beautiful" village

As one of Cheshire's oldest pubs, the historic Cock O' Budworth has been providing hospitality to thirsty revellers for over 400 years. Now, the former coaching inn has been given a fresh new look - with nods to its past - and will reopen to the public this week.

The Grade-II listed pub is based on the edge of the village of Great Budworth - known as Cheshire's "most beautiful" village thanks to its cobbled streets and patchwork of quirky oak-beamed houses. The Cock is one of only two remaining pubs in the village and can be found on Cock Lane.

The refurbishment includes renaming many of the rooms throughout the building, including "The Stables" in the salon as guests walk in, a nod to the barn element of the pub formerly used for guest's horses. The Cock of the pub's title also refers to horses, not a cockerel, as many might assume.

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The pub board features cock horses pulling a wagon. And indeed the term is thought to have derived from the 15th century for the extra "cock" horses required to pull a wagon up a hill, which they would have had to do to get to the pub which is just off the main A559 road to Warrington.

Meanwhile outside the venue an old horse carriage has been painted black and planted up with flowers as a quirky feature on arrival to continue that theme. It is set on the original cobblestones outside the pub where there's now a raft of new outdoor benches to sit on.

The pub will reopen to the public on Wednesday this week, and marks the seventh venture for Cheshire Pub Co, the group behind the likes of the Churchill Tree in Nether Alderley, The Ship in Styal and The Frozen Mop in Mobberley. The Cock is however the first