Lower Chicksgrove, British, Modern - Restaurant Guide

“A lovely traditional out-of-the-way pub with lovely traditional pub food”, this ancient thatched village inn is these days owned and run by Ben Maschler (son of restaurant critic Fay and a former operations director at Soho House) and long-term fans say “it never fails to please”, with a menu that offers hearty country dishes alongside more ‘pubby’ options.

Born in 1740 but updated for modern times – a country inn on the edge of the rolling parkland of the Fonthill Estate, not far from Salisbury. “Too many pubs serve food that is overpriced and disappointing, but not here though” – a “fab place” where you can expect “superb cooking every time”, be it suckling pig, wood-fired pizzas or local meat and game (“a lunch featuring duck lingers long in the memory”). Want to overnight? There are plush bedrooms and lodges but the pick of the accommodation is the ‘Arch’ which sits at the entrance to the Fonthill Estate’s driveway.

“Just heaven”. “You can’t get more idyllic than a meal here sat in the most beautiful walled kitchen garden” of Darren Brown’s Wiltshire destination (est. 2016) – “out of the way (but handy for the A303)” – “it is so relaxing, and such a treat and the surroundings are so beautiful with their mixture of flowers and vegetables and herbs”. “On the Cote d’Azur it would work fine most of the year. In Wiltshire it is often cold and wet at which time you eat indoors in Spartan conditions (at which times ambience 2/5 at best)”. When it comes to the cooking (much of it over an open fire), they “really make an attempt to be green with lots of own-grown stuff, retired dairy cows for meat etc. you can even pick a bunch of flowers to take home!”. But what is plain “magical” to some, is more nuanced to sceptics, who say: “problem is, the food’s not that good, with relatively little choice in practice and combinations that are seasonal but don’t always work”. Likewise service can be “enthusiastic but not always knowledgeable”. Still, mostly the vibes here are positive. Top Menu Tip – “They bring you a non-alcoholic fizzy wine to kick things off and it’s the best thing – not sweet but deliciously refreshing. Some good bread and a dip to kick things off, then the main event, you either pick meat or veggie; then all the sides, with veg straight from the garden all so fresh and beautifully accompanied with herbs and butters”.

2022 Review: “A friendly and welcoming atmosphere” marks out this thatched fifteenth-century gastroboozer, where the “high-quality fresh local produce” (but also more adventurous sourcing, including from Paris’s famous Rungis market) leads to some “interesting variations on the traditional style”.