They have a good range of ales on draught including Doombar and Grolsch and while we were ordering at the bar we were rather charmed to see a chalkboard announcing congratulations for a couple who had just had a bouncing baby boy, regulars we assumed who no doubt might be thinking of holding the christening party there! The menu is just what you expect from a good traditional country pub with lots of hearty homemade food, steak and kidney pie, lambs shanks, and the local butcher’s faggots caught my eye immediately.

To start, we ordered chicken and Cointreau orange pâté with toast to share, followed by for me the steak and kidney pie with chips and salad, and for him whole tail scampi and chips. We thawed out by the wood burning stove whilst we waited and soon enough the pâté appeared very nicely presented in a small china pot, plenty of hot toast and a small salad accompaniment. It was very good and just the thing to take the edge of your appetite coupled with a foaming pint of Grolsch.

I was glad I hadn’t had a starter to myself when I saw the slice of steak and kidney pie nestling in lots of thick gravy and covered with short crust pastry the size of a small blanket. Tucking in I found it was absolutely delicious; I love kidney and by luck there was plenty of it in this portion, the steak was as soft as butter and the pastry heavenly. Not that I had much room for it but the side salad was rather good too, a mixture of Caeser and coleslaw with some broccoli and pasta, a meal in itself really. The scampi was excellent and all in all we were very happy with our supper; at £8.50 for the pie, and £9.95 for the scampi it proved outstanding value.

The lady chef who modestly referred to herself as just the cook, came over to see if we had enjoyed our meals and I quizzed her for the secret of the oh so perfect steak and kidney pie which she generously gave up; however, it stays with me and you’ll just have to go there yourself if you want to find out!

Jacquie Vowles