A consistently good global menu with a varied choice of homemade dishes makes this cottage-like pub a popular spot, a tempting start is created by their cream of butternut squash soup; warm shredded ham hock and Puy lentil salad with grain mustard or wild mushroom tortellini with mushroom cream create.

In the same vein you might follow with pork and leek sausages with mashed potato, onion marmalade and red wine jus; sautéed scallops with buttered spinach and herb cream or Scottish rib-eye steak with french fries, mushroom and tomatoes. However, desserts are their forte, with autumn berry pudding; white chocolate panna cotta; dark chocolate tart with vanilla cream or vanilla crème brûlée.

Eating is split between a small candle lit upper room and a larger dining area. The large front garden is lovely in the summer and there is an 'adult only' terrace at the rear of the pub under a majestic maple tree. The Good Pub Guide 2004 made them 'County Dining Pub of the Year', quite an accolade, and for the last six years they have been awarded a Michelin Bib Gourmand - an award for good food at moderate prices.