The Tichborne Arms

A detour from wherever you are headed is required to reach the Tichborne, but it is definitely worth it. High beams adorned with foliage, cushions on the bench seating, candelabra-style lighting, shelves packed with old books and trinkets, and a view into the kitchen from the pass all create a comforting feel, and staff are impressively on point. The food aims to please all comers. Starter options occupy that resourceful bridge between nibbly appetisers and actual dishes, as in a serving of moreish confit garlic houmous and pickled red onion, with charred flatbread for dredging, while the croquettes that reach you mere moments after being lifted from the fryer are full of mellow Cheddar and startling little nips of hot jalapeño, soothed with garlic and herb mayo. Main courses have all the sturdiness you expect from good pub cooking, whether you opt for chicken milanese with chestnut mushroom purée, a beetroot burger, or even a fish dish such as roasted skate wing with capered brown butter and new potatoes. For the Sunday roast crowd, a harvest festival's worth of veg accompanies the main business, perhaps smoked beef short rib braised in red wine to the point where it obligingly falls from the bone, alongside an enormous Yorkshire pudding. Neither is there anything flimsy about the sweet end of things, when a gooey-rich brownie turns up with white chocolate ice cream and the sharpening hit of plum sauce. Local guest ales, spicy margaritas and a compact list of on-trend wines, including Exton Park fizz from Hampshire, add to the feeling of being properly looked after.