Old Library Restaurant & Tea Shop , The

Lincolnshire seems to go for libraries and reading rooms converted into restaurants and tearooms in quite a big way. The one at Alford is best summed up by saying it is just the greatest fun to be there. The cheerful Coral Westall, who with husband Jim, owns and runs the Old Library, was previously a cookery editor, so knows her way around in a place like this.

Tucker on offer is largely traditional, honest fare, using the freshest of ingredients, and you can spend anywhere between £5 and £20 depending on where your fancy takes you. Snacks, light meals, heavier meals, just coffee or tea, all are there to meet your needs.

Old relics will revel in the music from the 1940s. Latest intelligence reports that the books have gone, their place taken by china plates. Perhaps somebody found a few first editions lurking on the shelves.