George Orwell wrote in 1946 about his perfect pub, called The Moon under
Water, where the beer - stout in particular - was in good nick,
unpretentious food came in generous portions and the barmaids called the
customers “dear”. As he was the original Grumpy Old Man, Orwell spoilt this
idyllic picture by telling his readers at the end of the piece that The Moon
under Water was pure fiction, too good to exist.
He might, I fancy, have taken a liking to a real and near-idyllic pub where
you might even catch the reflection of the moon in the water. The
Maltsters Arms at Tuckenhay in Devon stands alongside
the tranquil Bow Creek. Some customers even arrive by boat: the pub has
moorings available. In the summer, there are barbecues by the river and
occasional live music concerts.
Denise and Quentin Thwaites, who own the pub, learnt the skills of producing
quality pub food at the White Cross in Richmond, London, and bought the
Maltsters when it was put up for sale by TV chef Keith Floyd. The pub had
briefly been called Floyd’s Inn, but its original name was quickly returned,
along with some much-needed serenity.
The Maltsters has a long, narrow but cosy main bar that links a snug with an
open fire to one side and a second room with kitchen chairs on a wooden
floor to the other. Denise is in charge of the kitchen and uses local
produce for menus that change daily. Starters might include minted green-pea
soup; local oysters; mussels in cream, wine, garlic and herbs; seafood soup
(a particular favourite that is often available) and chicken liver and
Calvados pâté. Main courses could include haddock fillet mornay; dressed
local crab salad; aubergine, tomato and cheese bake; asparagus and pecorino
ravioli with wild mushroom sauce or roasted saddle of venison with red wine
and redcurrant sauce. Decadent puddings such as warm chocolate fudge cake or
rhubarb and clotted cream crunch fool provide the perfect finish. There is
also a special menu for children, which avoids the usual fish fingers and
burgers offered by too many pubs. Bar snacks - sandwiches, shepherd’s
delight and chilli - are also available.
Summer barbecues, organised by Quentin, serve whole roasted sea bass,
vegetarian kebabs and veggie burgers. The pub has a good wine list, local
Heron Valley cider in the summer and such cask beers as local Princetown’s
Dartmoor IPA, Sharp’s Eden Ale from Cornwall, Cain’s Bitter all the way from
Liverpool and Charles Wells’ Bombardier. Accommodation is available in
beautifully appointed bedrooms.
Maltsters Arms, Tuckenhay, near Totnes,
Devon (01803 732350; www.tuckenhay.com).
Many pubs have strong cricket connections: the modern game, after all, was
fashioned at the Bat & Ball on Broadhalfpenny Down in Hampshire. The
Cricketers’ Arms in Rickling Green, Essex, is so enamoured of
the summer game that one bar is called the Long Room (after the famous room
at the heart of the pavilion at Lord’s) and every year the Essex county team
plays an all-day, pro-am match on the green alongside the pub (this year’s,
on Friday August 27, starts at 10.30am).
The 16th-century inn, with a timber frame, oak beams and 18th and 19th-century
additions, holds the record for the highest score - 920 runs - ever made in
a single innings on one day. In good weather, visitors can enjoy a drink as
they watch a match in progress and then stroll inside for a meal in the Long
Room cooked by head chef Christopher Crosby.
The menu may feature butternut and yellow pepper soup with truffle oil;
roasted pigeon breast served with a chicory and spinach salad; warm goat’s
cheese with pesto, antipasto and roasted nuts or grilled sardines with a
spicy tomato compote.
Main courses include several organic dishes, such as supreme of chicken with
foie gras and spiced Puy lentils, or paprika pork with dauphinoise potatoes,
roast leeks and parsley sauce.
Other dishes may include grilled halibut with a saffron shrimp chowder;
roasted Mediterranean vegetables with a lemon, cumin and chickpea purée with
grilled halloumi; smoked duck breast with bok choi and kumquats; roasted
monkfish with pea purée, Parma ham and a Madeira jus or risotto of roast
vegetables and smoked cheese. Desserts could be chocolate fondant served
with vanilla mascarpone and poached berries; tarte Tatin with cinnamon
ice-cream; or a cheeseboard featuring Cropwell Bishop, Reblochon, mature
Cheddar and Montbriac.
As well as a good selection of wines, the Cricketers’ offers Adnams Broadside,
Greene King IPA, and Jennings’ Cumberland Ale. If watching cricket
stimulates the desire to play sport, the pub has a boules pitch.
Accommodation is also available, making the pub a good stopover for people
using Stansted airport.
The Cricketers’ Arms, Rickling Green, near Saffron Walden, Essex (01799
543210; www.cricketers.demon.co.uk).
The Nantyffin Cider Mill at the foot of the Black Mountains,
near Crickhowell in Wales, started life in the 16th century as a drovers’
inn and became a cider plant with its own orchard in the 19th century. It
closed in the Sixties, but the original cider press and wheel still stand in
the restaurant area of this spacious pub. The restaurant was once the apple
store and has an impressive raftered roof, while elsewhere there are massive
stone walls, a wood-burning stove and comfortable seating, with fine views
over the local river from tables on the lawn.
Sean Gerrard, the chef, uses local produce - much of it organic - for his
dishes: a family farm in Llangynidr supplies organic meat and vegetables,
while cockles and laverbread come from Swansea in the spring, and crabs and
mackerel from Pembrokeshire. Dishes change daily, but you may be tempted by
the likes of home-made soup; baked field mushrooms; seared king scallops;
confit of home-reared pork; grilled fresh razor clams or caramelised shallot
tart. Main courses could include Nantyffin’s confit of home-reared lamb;
grilled fresh cod; roast loin of monkfish; roast halibut; vegetarian risotto
cake; griddled supreme of marinated home-reared chicken or wild mushroom and
blue-cheese fritters. Desserts might feature treacle tart; poached pears in
red wine; warm cider, chocolate and apple cake or a selection of Welsh
cheeses.
Wines are mainly New World and include some carefully chosen dessert wines,
including Henschke Eden Valley Noble Rot Riesling. Draught cider - of course
- is available, and brands on offer include Dunkertons and Thatchers. There
is a different draught beer each week, including some from the local
Breconshire Brewery. There is always an India Pale Ale on tap, such as
Buckleys IPA, and Pimm’s is served in summer.
Nantyffin Cider Mill, Crickhowell, Powys (01873 810775; www.cidermill.co.uk).
BEST OF THE REST
CAMBRIDGESHIRE
The Bell Inn, High Street, Stilton, Peterborough
(01733 241066)
This is a cheesy pub in the best sense of the word. Stilton is not made here -
proper stilton comes from Melton Mowbray and other areas of Leicestershire -
but the cheese was first sold in the inn on the Great North Road in the
1720s and became so popular that it took over the name of the village. The
bar menu always features stilton and celery soup. The Bell prefers the Long
Clawson variety and uses it in such dishes as stilton pizza on ciabatta;
mushrooms with stilton and colcannon potatoes; chicken in stilton, cider and
cream sauce; stilton sausages and mash; ripe stilton served with plum bread
and braised beef and ale with stilton dumplings. The 16th-century
stone-built coaching inn has a courtyard with seats for fine weather, while
inside the bars have flagstones, bow windows and a log fire in a stone
fireplace. Wine is sold by the glass and the good range of cask beers
includes Oakham JHB from Peterborough, Fuller’s London Pride, Greene King
IPA and regular guest beers. A courtyard has tables and an ancient well
dating from Roman times. You can join such illustrious former guests as Dick
Turpin, Lord Byron and Clark Gable by staying overnight.
CUMBRIA
The Drunken Duck Inn, Barngates, Ambleside (015394 36347; www.drunkenduckinn.co.uk)
This 400-year-old ale house takes its name from a tall tale about passing
ducks drinking beer from a leaking cask and falling down in a stupor. You
can certainly sup well here, for the small Barngates Brewery stands behind
the pub and provides Cracker, Tag Lag and Chesters Strong and Ugly for the
bar. The pub is small but comfortable, served by a long bar that runs the
length of the main room. Dishes may include pigeon marinated with liquorice;
seared tuna on smoked pancetta with leeks and mustard dressing; spring onion
pancake with wild smoked salmon and baked goat’s cheese; grilled sea bass;
leek, goat’s cheese and tomato tartlet; and grilled pasta with roast
peppers, red onions, fennel, chestnuts and spinach on red pepper sauce.
There’s also pot-roasted duck as a warning to any passing feathered friends
who fancy a drop of ale. There are superb views from seats outside the pub,
and accommodation is also available.
EAST SUSSEX
The Griffin Inn, Fletching, near Uckfield (01825 722890; www.thegriffininn.co.uk)
A 400-year-old inn close to Glyndebourne, the Bluebell Railway and Bodiam
Castle, the Griffin has beams, panelled walls and log fires, one fronted by
two snarling griffins, and there’s a pleasant terrace for summer drinking.
The inn is famous for its food but doesn’t neglect drinkers in the bar, with
such cask ales as Badger, Ballard’s and Harveys. The inn is run with great
style by the Pullan family and their partner, John Gatti, and locally
sourced organic meat and vegetables are used whenever possible. Bar meals
could include fresh asparagus and herb soup; confit of pork and mung-bean
terrine; deep-fried crab wontons with chilli sauce; avocado and black olive
mousse with organic tomato salad or hot ciabatta sandwiches with a choice of
fillings. In the dining room you might find leek and potato soup; game
terrine; swordfish and courgette chargrilled brochette and pan-fried cod
fillet with warm pesto potatoes and crispy red anchovies. Desserts may
include spiced kumquats and figs mulled in port, tarte au citron or a
selection of English cheeses. The wine list is extensive, with champagne and
port bottled for the inn. Accommodation is available in a converted coach
house.
ESSEX
The Angel Inn, Polstead Street, Stoke-by-Nayland, Colchester (01206
263245)
A 16th-century inn in a medieval village of timber-framed buildings in Dedham
Vale (also known as Constable country), the Angel has massive beams,
standing timbers and stripped brick walls, and there are tables on a
pleasant, sheltered terrace. The bar offers Adnams, Greene King and a guest
beer, sometimes the local Nethergate from Clare. The Well Room, with rough
brick walls and a 52ft-deep well, acts as the dining room, though the food
menu chalked on blackboards is available throughout the inn. Dishes could
include home-made soup; griddled fresh sardines in oregano; deep-fried
cambozola with cranberry sauce; steamed mussels in white wine and cream;
fresh dressed crab with home-made mayonnaise; supreme of chicken filled with
brie and coated with crushed hazelnuts; vegetable filo parcels with fresh
tomato coulis or honey-glazed roast rack of lamb. Desserts could be brown
bread ice-cream or steamed apple pudding with vanilla sauce. The wine list
includes some half bottles. Accommodation is available.
HEREFORDSHIRE
The Cider House at Dunkertons, Pembridge, Leominster (01544 388653)
The Cider House has no claims to being a pub, but it’s worth a visit for the
lovely location, the opportunity to see a craft cider works in operation and
to eat superb food in a beamed and raftered 400-year-old barn with fine
views over the fields from an outside terrace. Ivor Dunkerton, a BBC
producer, and Susie, who worked in theatre admin, gave up big-city life in
the early Eighties to grow cider apples and perry pears, using such
traditional varieties as Foxwhelp, Merrylegs, Painted Lady, Brown Snout and
Yarlington Mill. You can enjoy the organic ciders on draught or in bottles
in the restaurant (Wednesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm) along with Susie’s
food, which ranges from imaginative sandwiches to the likes of white bean,
chive and garlic soup with spiced pork sausage; toasted cauliflower,
celeriac and pumpkin-seed salad with saffron Easter bread; little casserole
of smoked haddock and quails’ eggs with seaweed caviar; Florence fennel and
mango cheesecake with blood orange citrus dressing; leek, nettle and almond
tart with sorrel sauce; home-reared Hereford beef, beetroot and cider
cottage pie with sage mashed potato; perry-marinated organic breast of
chicken with creamed spinach and parsnip rösti or pan-fried Welsh border
venison steak with mushrooms in red wine and coriander. You can also buy
cider to take away. The restaurant will be closed June 14-20.
WARWICKSHIRE
The Fox and Hounds Inn, Great Wolford
(01608 674220; www.thefoxandhoundsinn.com)
This old stone inn, dating from 1540 and close to the even older Rollright
Stones stone circle, gets plaudits from every known guide for the quality of
food and beer. The bar, with low beams garlanded with hops and drinkers’
mugs, has a large inglenook containing an old bread oven. The constantly
changing range of beers could include Adnams, Hook Norton, Shepherd Neame
and Wye Valley. The wine list has half a dozen by-the-glass options, and the
pub boasts just about every malt whisky known to drinking kind. There are
excellent snacks, and more substantial fare such as fresh sardines with
stuffed onions and basil; salmon and crab fishcake with a saffron and leek
sauce; field and wild mushroom terrine; fried brie and smoked bacon parcels
with Cumberland sauce; Mediterranean vegetable tartlet; pork fillet wrapped
in bacon and spinach with green peppercorn sauce; Dover sole with Napolitana
sauce and steak and kidney pie. Desserts include sticky pudding with
ice-cream and chocolate terrine. There’s a well on a pleasant terrace and
accommodation is available; it’s a useful resting place if you plan an
assault on the antique shops of Moreton-in-Marsh.
YORKSHIRE
The Blue Lion, East Witton, near Leyburn, North Yorkshire (01969
624273)
This 18th-century coaching inn in the Yorkshire Dales is close to the famous
brewing town of Masham, home to Black Sheep and Theakston. Both breweries’
beers feature in the pub, which has flagstone floors and high-back settles.
There are picnic tables at the front with good views over to Witton Fell, as
well as a garden at the back. Menus may offer home-made soup; smoked
wild-boar sausage with bubble and squeak; onion and blue Wensleydale tart
with tomato chutney; corned-beef hash with a fried egg; cassoulet of pork
rib or cherry tomato and tapenade tart. A huge wine list of 120 bins
concentrates on France and includes some grand cru clarets. Accommodation
available.
The Fat Cat, 23 Alma Street, Sheffield, South Yorkshire (0114 249 4801;
www.thefatcat.co.uk)
Described by the Good Beer Guide as “an urban legend”, The Fat Cat was the
dream of former university lecturer David Wickett, who also launched the
small Kelham Island Brewery next door, which supplies the pub. Wickett is a
passionate vegetarian, to such an extent that he doesn’t use isinglass
finings, made from fish bladders, to clear his beers. You can drink his
Sheffield Best Bitter, Kelham Gold and Easy Rider ales in two small,
comfortable rooms supplied by a hatched, central servery: the rooms have
coal fires, wooden tables, cushioned wall seats and old advertising mirrors.
Expect to find generous helpings of lentil soup, nutty parsnip crunch with
salad and granary bread, spinach and red bean casserole with rice, stilton
pasta, ploughman’s, and cheese and onion quiche. Carnivores are not ignored
and you might find pork casserole on the menu. Desserts could include jam
roly-poly and apple crumble. A visitor centre in the back yard is full of
fascinating brewery memorabilia.
The Star Inn, Weaverthorpe, Malton, North Yorkshire (01944 738273)
Friendly, relaxing Wolds inn that makes an ideal base for exploring the
surrounding countryside (accommodation is available). Cook Susan Richardson
rewards customers with a free pint if they supply her with local crab
apples, which she turns into apple jelly. She uses the jelly in several
dishes, including those made with fresh pheasant supplied by a local farmer.
The cheery, comfortable and determinedly old-fashioned bars serve Camerons,
John Smith’s and Tetley’s bitters, with guest beers from micro-breweries
such as the local Hambleton. The menu could include hare with red wine and
bacon, pigeon breasts with garlic and stilton, red snapper with tomato and
garlic salsa, or tuna with Mojo sauce. Susan is a vegetarian, and
one of her signature meatless dishes is a herb pudding with savoury gravy.
There’s also a traditional Sunday roast. The pub is closed on Monday and
Tuesday lunchtimes; evening meals
are available Wednesday to Monday. There is outside seating in good weather.
Roger Protz edits Camra’s Good Beer Guide and is the author
of Britain’s 500 Best Pubs (Carlton Books)
