Restaurant at The Bull Hotel

A 600 year old coaching inn, said to hold tremendous atmosphere helped on by the ghost of a former erring landlady. Probably more important is the wealth of old timber, cosy corners, a huge inglenook fireplace that does the business famously when the conditions demand, and an exterior appearance that makes you think of all those things and more.

The menu will certainly induce some pleasant thinking, starting with jacket wedges and creamy blue cheese and walnut dip, filo prawns with a hot and sweet chilli sauce, or slices of smoked salmon and halibut.

In amongst the main courses keep and eye open for the chef's pie of the day (some nice surprises there), the curry of the day, hot chilli con carne on rice, good well sourced steaks, or fillet of beef stroganoff. A red Thai prawn curry can chase away a cold night, and for our comrades in leeks there is a good range of dishes, including three cheese fresh pasta with garlic bread.

Some really good salads with such delights as tiger prawns, medium rare sirloin of beef, or chilli and lime chicken to help bring the greenery to life, are served with a choice of dressings.

A wine list that does the difficult task of combining quaffability with good value, really pulls in the points - congratulations to Mr Worrall, whoever he may be.

Thanks be that there are still old inns like this that continue to survive in a form that the more senior members of the populace recall with pleasure; a sentiment that, believe me, is by no means confined to one age bracket.