Duke's Head, The

It's not every day that you find a jolly boozer on m'Lord's estate, indeed where I live we don't even have one, jolly or otherwise, but at Somerleyton The Duke's Head has close connections with the big house - if you see what I mean, and provides a refuge for locals and visitors alike. In March 2004 Hugh Crossley and Head Chef Brad Salazar took over the pub and commenced its transformation.

Behind the bar is Maggie Rudd, a lady who is alleged to take no prisoners, and as a result runs a happy and family-friendly house.

The menu owes nothing to any celebrity chef and everything to Suffolk, which has an abundance of good things supplied from or near the Estate. A look at the menu reveals some of them, Starters, from a list of five, could include smoked salmon mousseline and brown bread croute, or chicken liver parfait and red onion marmalade. Main courses list Suffolk sausage and mash, braised with red cabbage and onion gravy, a delightful seafood omelette, or plaice Mornay with cauliflower broccoli and new potatoes.

The Duke comes cantering into the scene with his own bread and butter pudding - and custard, suggesting he might have been educated at a public school, or perhaps you prefer the classic lemon tart with Chantilly cream.

Should you prefer something other than lunch during the day, Maggie and Brad can produce something from the bar menu, almost as long as the a la carte, at the drop of a cleaver, with toasted baguettes, jacket potatoes, and the nobility having a last appearance with the Duke's Burger, and certainly not to forget the beer battered cod, with chips and mushy peas (wrapped if required).

This is a thoroughly lively and attractive place - to say it deserves to succeed is a slight, because it so obviously is doing.