Just three miles from junction 40 of the M1 near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, this extraordinary pub sits on Heath Common – a vast, open space dotted with untethered ponies and with buzzards wheeling about overhead.

Alongside is the village of Heath, which is full of fine-looking buildings dating mainly from the 17th to the 19th century, including the dark and brooding Heath Hall, built in 1753 by John Carr, the celebrated architect, who came from nearby Horbury.

The village has made few concessions to the 21st century. And the Kings Arms is no exception. The frontage is handsome, but nothing prepares you for what lies within: coal fires, gas lamps, gleaming flagged floors, battered tables and settles, and oak-panelled walls. It’s incredibly atmospheric – and dark: it takes a minute or two for your eyes to adjust.

A tiny bar greets you and a jolly local lass pulls pints of HB Clark’s bitter, which is brewed just down the road. Traditional pub grub includes beef and ale pie, sausage and mash, yorkshire pudding and onion gravy, lamb’s liver and onions, haddock and chips.

You get a proper plateful of food, so given there’s sponge pudding and custard for dessert, it’s perhaps as well you can walk out of the door and take a constitutional round the heath before driving on.

AMPLE MENU:

Prawn cocktail, £4.25; beef in ale pie £6.95; liver and onions, £6.95; gammon, egg and pineapple, £6.95; hot sausage and onion sandwich, £3.25; puddings £2.95

The Kings Arms, Heath, Wakefield, 01924 377 527