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The Marchmont Arms is a warm and welcoming country inn and restaurant, located just north of Hemel Hempstead in Piccotts End. The white building that houses the 18th century pub was a private residence for over two centuries before being skilfully transformed into a modern dining destination.

The interiors are furnished with teak tables, comfortable leather couches, large mirrors and an exciting blend of old and new knick knacks. The large open log fire adds to the warm and pleasant atmosphere. The Marchmont Arms bar stocks different beers on tap ranging from continental lagers to European speciality beers as well as trusted ales. The wine list has an even balance of New and Old World wines with a variety of styles from which to choose.
 
The Marchmont Arms's menu is contemporary with many tempting homely dishes available, and to set the right note of fashionable sociability there are sharing plates, antipasti of Italian meats, dolcelatte, marinated vegetables and warm stone-baked flatbreads, or Mediterranean mezze of hummus, roasted vegetables, fregola, tzatziki, feta, spinach and ricotta pâté with flatbreads.

Amongst the appetisers look for freshly made soup; smoked salmon, pomegranate molasses, fennel and micro herb salad, or gambas with rocket, garlic aioli and rustic bread. Look, too, for scallops of the day. The salads offer chargrilled chicken, courgette, fennel, apple, asparagus, hazelnut and balsamic dressing, and the seafood fiends find pleasure in some prawn and avocado with pecans, mango, bacon, orange and pomegranate vinaigrette.

These days no self-respecting gastropub can afford to be without its pizza range; expect to find a classic margherita of cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, pomodoro and basil, rustica with roasted Mediterranean vegetables, goats' cheese and cherry tomatoes or the piccante with pepperoni, chorizo, tomato and jalapeños.

Pastas include linguini with tiger prawns, crab, chorizo, chilli, tomato and white wine or tagliatelle with slow cooked Bolognaise and parmesan. For the big event there is roast rump of lamb with sauce soubise, asparagus, pancetta, button onions and baby potatoes. Battered haddock with frites, tartare sauce and minted mushy peas is popular, a sign of the times and improving taste in eating. The salmon with crab and chorizo fishcakes, roasted sweet corn and cherry tomato salsa is worth trying too. For hearty eaters there are rib-eye and fillet steaks or spit chicken with lemon, garlic, thyme and frites.

A wide range of supporting dishes includes green salad, and cabbage, leeks and peas. For desserts choose between an apple, blackcurrant crumble and vanilla custard and, sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream. The selection of cheeses is likely to set the buffs alight.

Their excellent Website will keep you up to date on any changes. Please note that the E-Mail Contact is for enquiries only, not for bookings.

In the great pub evolution there have, as always, been winners and losers. The weak have gone to the wall, the strong have survived, and the newcomers have led the renaissance. The emergence of modest groupings of revitalised pubs has brought some real stars, of which The Alford Arms is undoubtedly one, a verdict supported by a string of awards; six time winner of Herfordshire Dining Pub Award in The Good Pub Guide, most recently for 2010; Regional winner of Best Gastro Pub at the 2007 Morning Advertiser Pub Awards and included in Eat Out magazine's 'Best of the Best Top 100' pubs in their April 2008 edition.

The advantages of a dignified Victorian building have been skilfully combined with new ideas, modern management with heart, and an adherence to good taste in matters of décor. Character and atmosphere is there in abundance. For dog walkers in on-the-doorstep Ashridge forest the Alford is a beacon of hope as they stagger the last few yards in to the welcoming arms of the pub and its friendly staff, who understand. They see it all the time. At bluebell time the woods are blue with beauty; later in the year a search for mushrooms there can prove rewarding, whilst in between the summer months can be whiled away in the pretty pub garden over a few glasses.

The menu reflects the rural nature of this delightful place and plenty of fresh local produce is encountered in the dishes that Head Chef Rupert creates for an increasingly large and appreciative clientele. A choice of small plates is likely to include grilled mackerel fillet with basil and slow-dried tomato crust, rocket, crispy capers and lemon oil, or bubble and squeak with oak smoked bacon, free range poached egg and Hollandaise sauce.

Moving on to more weighty matters, guests may encounter the excellent char-grilled 21-day aged British rib-eye steak, a veritable tour de force of its kind, served with fat chips, smoked garlic butter and ?Sarratt? watercress. Hertfordshire this may be, but nothing wrong with some Stockings Farm sausages from Amersham, or a pan-fried mullet fillet with tomato, samphire and pearl barley risotto.

But be sure to leave space for the sheer joy of selecting a little something from their seductive selection of puddings. How can anyone resist a Nettleden honey baked peach and thyme galette with white chocolate cream, or even the dark chocolate and coconut torte with orange curd ice cream? For those to whom a meal is not really complete without a pass at the cheese consider the merits of some Barkham blue, Cornish yarg and Saval from Surrey, and all of it comes with Alford oatcakes, sticky malt loaf and apple and ale chutney.

From extolling the virtues of a food that derives from the cow, let's consider the wine list, a stunner of its kind, wide choice in a consistent quality filled smallish list with very little over £30, plenty by the large, or not quite so large glass, ably extended by the attention it pays to pudding wines which, given the quality of the puddings is the very least they could do. So with your sponge pudding and cherries with ice cream, you can choose perhaps a glass of Vin Santo di Capezzana Riserva 03, known better to some as 'the wine of the saints'.

An evening with the saints might be the right terminology for dinner at this outstanding pub with restaurant, which brings us back to those awards, of which we shall see even more winging their way to 'the pub on the edge of the forest'.

Their Website is full of fun and gaiety, an informative and intelligible extension of the character of this pub and those who run it.

From the same stable as The Nags Head comes The Bricklayers Arms, an award-winning country inn of very considerable charm. With an AA Rosette for Culinary Excellence, 'Restaurant of the Year' voted by the Foodie Guide readers, Dining Pub of the Year and Wine List of the Year for The Good Pub Guide 2008 and 2009, 'Freehouse of the Year 2009', and Food Pub of the Year, AA Pick of the Pubs 2009, recommended in the Michelin Guide and a Commendation in Hardens Guide 2009 have all come their way, any one of which would be cause enough to justify a booking with a fair degree of confidence.

However, whilst Awards are certainly a good guide there is nothing to beat some closer investigation of a menu that rides with English tradition whilst taking French outriders on board for some striking fusion dishes. The freshest of organic produce, most of it from local producers is deployed whenever possible, and to be able to eat in elegant al fresco surroundings when circumstances permit is always an added incentive.

A typical menu will list around a dozen starters which could include egg cocotte poached in a goats' cheese cream with runner beans served with foccacia bread. Battered king scallops and pea purée is served with a spicy tomato, olive and crayfish salad, also available as a main dish.

Those who like their brush with the sea early on in the engagement may cast a favourable eye on the crab with home smoked salmon served with a chive cream and blinis for the touch that makes all the difference.

On with the medley to a list of main courses that passes that real test - you'd like them all! Well, yes but let's be selective, starting with ox cheek slowly cooked in Tring ale with a honey drizzle served on a bed of bubble and squeak, a touch of flavouring genius. The thoroughly pork from Micklefield Hall Farm, Sarrat, is cooked with root vegetables in white wine served in a pie dish with a chestnut mash top. For the more traditional, the 21 day fillet of Bedfordshire beef arrives at table with a choice of green peppercorn flavoured brandy cream sauce, or mixed mushrooms and port jus.

Ten, yes ten, sweet temptations offer their siren call to your pleasure antennae, from which even in summer one might find the hot apple and rhubarb tart totally irresistible, or a light and delicate crêpe filled with Cointreau flavoured mascarpone and citrus fruits. A keenly priced cheese plate is calculated to bring joy to the hearts of those for whom no meal is complete . . . . .

A wine list of some 120 bins travels the globe with consummate skill, and includes its fair share of rare and exclusive wines such as the Mollydooker Boutique range of wines from southeast Australia, Ernie Els wines from South Africa and the full range of Cloudy Bay wines from New Zealand.

Corporate entertaining is a well-practised art at The Bricklayers, from 8 to 80, thus embracing the intimate, or larger occasions when a layer of space between one's event and the outside world is seen to be an advantage. Ask for Adam, Alvin or Claude.

Their Website takes a reassuringly factual approach to their abilities and achievements, as well as giving menu updates and details of the Newsletter.

Pizza Express remains a hugely popular bedrock of casual eating. Its popularity is testimony to the fact that across the country, they have restaurants where you will always be guaranteed a good nosh, with children's tastes being well catered for.

Pizza Express has gone even more Roman, and following the success of that particular example of listening to their public have introduced Romana pizzas, including the scorching Etna and the hearty Siciliana.

These pizzas are now thinner, bigger and crispier, and if that sounds like a marketing line, it is. However, unlike many such lines, this one is true, and their quality is always consistent, though cleverly they have still managed to retain a homemade feel to their pizzas.

As an alternative to pizza, try their pollo pesto - cavatappi pasta with torn chicken breast, mushrooms, red onions and mozzarella in a creamy gruyere, parmesan and pesto sauce and finished with grana padano - or the niçoise salad with mixed leaves, yellowfin tuna, free range egg, green beans, potatoes and tomatoes with olives, anchovies, capers and house dressing.

Many of the big chains have come a long way, and Pizza Express is certainly amongst them. One of the first to be quoted on the Stock Exchange - in 1993 - Pizza Express is not a franchise operation and retains tight control through its own staff.

Their wine list - though short - contains some surprisingly good offerings, especially their intense Australian Chardonnay, and a big, full-bodied Merlot from Cusumano, Sicilia.

Sinatra's strategic location near the magic roundabout does well in bringing in lovers of Italian cooking in Hemel Hempstead. The warm ambience at the restaurant helps in creating a relaxed setting for a leisurely meal while the open plan kitchen helps diners to watch the chefs at close quarters.

Italian favourites of minestrone soup, lasagne and escalope Milanese are all there alongside crepinette al Sinatra, oven baked pancakes filled with chicken, mozzarella and tomato sauce. Try the pollo del gourmet, chicken breast cooked in Madeira wine sauce topped with pâté and served on a crouton, for that gourmet touch, while fish and meat main courses may feature a grilled Dover sole, monk fish cooked with green peppercorn, cream and brandy, and fillet steak cooked in Barolo wine, wild mushrooms and garnished with creamed potatoes.

There's cassata Siciliana and a glass of Passito di Pantelleria DOC to finish.

Modern British cuisine served to a high standard in a smart environment and good value for money has culminated in the award of a Michelin Bib Gourmand for Restaurant 65 in 2008. So whether it's a quiet evening with a loved one, a family celebration or a corporate luncheon, a tranquil setting for any event is assured.

A typical dinner menu might take in starters of sautéed chicken liver on a pan fried slice of black pudding with seed mustard and herb cream reduction, and warm soft poached hen's egg on a toasted crostini with grilled bacon and a classic Hollandaise sauce. Mains of slow roasted and caramelised belly of pork arrive with bubble and squeak, honey glazed carrots and parsnips, apple compote and sage red wine jus.

Pomegranate poached warm orchard fruits, vanilla ice cream, and forest berry coulis helps you end the meal on a sweet note.

Tucked away in a residential road in Hemel Hempstead, the Plough and Dragon skilfully combines the roles of an English pub and a Thai restaurant. Dark wood furnishings and ornate lighting are allied to authentic Thai artefacts and statuettes, neatly symbolising the pub?s fusion of two cultures.

The a la carte covers a lot of ground from sharing starter platters and sizzlers to delicious curries and wok dishes, while the elaborate banquet menu, for two to share, brings in some satisfying choices such as stir-fried pork fillet, Thai fishcakes and Indonesian style fried rice. Finish on a classical note with a mango and coconut cheesecake or banana fritters drizzled with honey. The bar menu offers classic British pub grub including sandwiches, gourmet burgers, fish and chips, as well as oriental dishes like chicken satay, Malaysian beef rendang curry and Singapore laksa, a spicy coconut vermicelli noodle soup with chicken, crispy tofu and tiger prawns.

Plough and Dragon's carefully chosen selection of wines complements any meal perfectly.