Goring’s Royal Mail sorting office which closed last year has been listed by Historic England.
The building next to the bridge will be familiar to many walkers who take a break at the next door Pierreponts Café.
The former sorting office, which is now for sale, is a boathouse best seen as you start to cross the river to Streatley.
The boathouse was built about 1894 for Samuel Saunders and designed by local architect Percy Stone who was later responsible for the rood screen in the church.
Saunders was born at Streatley’s riverside Swan inn which had been the home not only of his father Cornelius but also his grandfather Moses who was the last ferryman before the bridge opened in 1837.
Having patented the construction of a lightweight hull for fast steam launches, Samuel Saunders relocated to the Isle of Wight where he pioneered the flying boat and craft for the First World War. The company is best known by its post war name Saunders Roe.
One thing to keep in mind if visiting the cafe is that often the inside tables are all fully reserved (a testimony to the quality of the food) and one might be obliged to use an outside table even if the weather is unfavourable.