Oare is a very small village in the central Berkshire Downs on a winding lane off the beaten track, comprising just a handful of houses, a farm and the church. The prominent Manor Farm is now a private residence with its outbuildings renovated and sold as housing. In the centre of the village near Manor Farm is an attractive village pond.

There are traces of settlements by Ancient Britons, and subsequent occupation by Romans, in the vicinity of the village. Roman artefacts and pottery shards were excavated when the bungalow was being built next to the Church in 1966.

A priory stood on the present site of Oare Farm House in the 10th century. The wall around the garden is thought to be the original wall and the pond in the meadow behind Oare Church contained the carp that the monks ate on Fridays. The priory was pulled down during the abolition of the monasteries in Henry VIII's reign. Only the small 'People's Chapel' survived, but is thought to have been later destroyed by fire. The present church, St. Bartholomew's, was built in 1852.

Oare is three-quarters of a mile north-west of Hermitage and six miles north-east of Newbury.