Rachael Sugden tasted the delights on offer at the Feathers Hotel in Woodstock

Gin is not called Mother's Ruin because overworked mums like the odd G&T in front of Corrie on a Friday night.

In fact, the myths, mystery and history of gin can be traced back to far bleaker circumstances – when the juniper brew was the opium of the British poor.

I learned all of this – and more – during a gin tasting at the UK's first dedicated gin bar.

The Feathers Hotel in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, has recently undergone a sweeping revamp, earning itself a fourth star rating in the process.

The hotel now boasts 20 redesigned bedrooms, a brand new suite and swish, art-filled new public areas.

The gin bar itself stocks more than 50 different brands – and The Feathers' "gin ambassador", Luc Morel, enthusiastically explained the drink's heritage (and myriad flavour permutations) during our pre-dinner tasting.

As he mixed and poured, we discovered that gin became popular in England in the 18th century after the Government allowed unlicensed gin production, while at the same time imposed a heavy duty on all imported spirits. Poor-quality grain that was unfit for brewing beer ended up in thousands of gin-shops that sprang up throughout England, to which thousands of English peasants would flock – to be left unable to work and in far worse circumstances than when they'd arrived.

By the 20th century, the English love of gin had not abated, and Mother's Ruin was a phrase coined during the Second World War, thanks to it being the soldiers' tipple of choice while home on leave – and the maternal state it induced among the women they partied with.

Among the gin cocktails on offer at the Feathers is Luc's lovingly crafted Ultimate G&T – which at £16.75 a pop, needed some explaining.

After much research, Luc chose Q Tonic as his ultimate mixer, made by Jordan Silbert in Brooklyn, USA. Described by Gourmet Magazine as "amazing", the tonic includes hand-picked cinchona bark (quinine) from the Peruvian Andes and uses organic agave as a sweetener.

We were told it also has fewer calories and a lower glycemic index than regular tonic water, as well as a clean crisp taste.

Choosing the ultimate gin, said Luc, was harder – but after much tasting he opted for Blackwood's 2007 60 per cent Vintage Dry Gin, made using botanicals from Shetland. Those botanicals, incidentally, include wild water mint, sea pink and meadowsweet flowers, coriander, angelica root, juniper, turmeric, orris and citrus peel – who knew gins could be so complex?

And the "perfect" G&T couldn't be topped off with any old ice cubes. As a final flourish, Luc's is served with ice cubes made from Blenheim Palace mineral water – the spring is just one mile from the hotel.

Yes, it was lovely, but I'm not sure our palates are sophisticated enough to appreciate the layers of flavour Luc hoped we would find.

Drink number two was the Ultimate Martini Cocktail, at £12.50 each, using Martin Millers Westbourne Strength gin and a drop of Vya Extra Dry Vermouth by California's Andrew Quady.

I've no doubt gin aficionados would be in their element – each of the bar's gins has its own distinctive fragrance and flavour and are sourced from eight different countries. There's even a range of tonics on offer to complement each chosen tipple. But I'm afraid we are far less sophisticated that the menu requires and it was all a little wasted on us.

After all that boozing we needed a good meal and the Feathers' bistro did not disappoint.

Fine dining is on offer in the hotel's formal restaurant, where dishes include beef carpaccio, scallops, Cornish brill and quail. There's even a six-course tasting menu for ardent foodies, and an additional wine tasting menu to accompany each course.

It being a stifling summer evening, we opted instead to dine outdoors in the relaxed courtyard at the back of the hotel, selecting a charcuterie board and shellfish platter (£7 and £7.50 respectively), followed by rib-eye steaks (£16), from the bistro menu. It was all really, really good – and no, that's not the gin talking.

The starters were served on small wooden boards, topped with delicately sliced and presented morsels, as well as freshly baked, warm bread. The steaks were served with creamed mushrooms, garlic beans and a watercress puree – it was all simple but stunningly crafted.

And so to bed – and the Feathers' redesigned rooms are certainly impressive. Carefully chosen antiques sit alongside modern, Morrocan-inspired pieces (our room had a vast 1930s wardrobe and a hammered-metal coffee table) as well as the ubiquitous posh-hotel-style giant bed, seductively made with cushions and quilts, and a huge en-suite bathroom with a bath for two and walk-in shower.

Unlike many hotels of its ilk, there was no tea and coffee-making facilities in the room and no mini-fridge. Instead, anything you could require could be requested from reception (at any time) and tea and coffee, in particular, is delivered at no charge to your door. Call me fussy but this does not make me happy – no matter how many stars the hotel has, I don't want to speak to a stranger at the crack of dawn and make bleary eyed pleasantries to get a hot drink before breakfast. I'd rather boil my own kettle than ask reception for a cuppa, thank you.

But this is a tiny gripe about a really lovely, friendly, comfortable hotel, which has been sensitively renovated to embrace the building's historic charms (it's a veritable rabbit warren of corridors, staircases and sloping floors, having once been a terrace of separate properties, including shops, a library and cottages).

And, if gin's not your thing, there's another very good reason to visit: Blenheim Palace.

The magnificent property is famed as the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill, and is a 10-minute walk from the Feathers' front door. The state rooms, Long Library and Great Hall are mind-boggling in their grandeur and sheer size – it's amazing to think people once considered the palace a home.

Further afield, Woodstock is ideally placed as a base to explore the city of Oxford, the villages of the north Cotswolds or, for those with cash to splash, pick up some bargains at the nearby Bicester Village shopping outlet.

Factfile

The Feathers, Market Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1SX. Tel: 01993 812291; email: enquiries@feathers.co.uk; website: www.feathers.co.uk.

Room rates at The Feathers Hotel, for B&B, range from £165 for a double room to £315 for a deluxe suite, per room per night.

Until November 30, pay £105 per person per night for a two-night weekend stay, including accommodation in a double room, a three-course dinner in the restaurant, full English breakfast daily and tickets for two to Blenheim Palace.