Restaurant at The New Inn At Coln, The

This ancient inn has a long history of lifting the hearts of travellers and visitors with the excellence of its victuals and warmth of its welcome. It is, of course, for debate as to whether or not the Cotswolds produces more congenial hotels and pubs with restaurants than anywhere else in Britain but I know where my money would go.

Sarah Payton and her team go in for traditional cooking, in line with everything else in the hotel and concentrate on basics rather than flowery exercises in self-expression. A starter could be selected from smoked duck with sweet onion and Pancetta tart, a poached egg and Bearnaise sauce, or black pudding and cheddar cheese with hash browns, apple puree and a mustard butter sauce, or more simply pan fried chicken livers with onion marmalade.

Braised duck legs served with Dubonnet and orange jus make a refreshing change from the more traditional breast of duck, and the roast rump of beef backed up with root vegetables, parsnip puree and roast potatoes does favours to everybody concerned. A weakness for anything to do with passion fruit would lead me to the soufflé of that ilk, even further enlivened with poached rhubarb and creme fraiche made with limes, but should that temptation fail to move you there are plenty of delightful options. As you can imagine the wine list lacks little and house wine at £11 is good value.