Eagle & Child

Hitting the nail on the head with unfussy effortless charm, this country pub is largely open-plan and discerningly furnished with a lovely mix of small old oak chairs, an attractive oak coffer, several handsomely carved antique oak settles (the finest apparently made partly from a 16th-c wedding bed-head), old hunting prints and engravings, and low hop-draped beams. There are red walls and coir matting up a step and oriental rugs on ancient flagstones in front of the fine old stone fireplace and counter; the pub's dogs are called Betty and Doris. Friendly young staff serve Thwaites Original alongside five guests from brewers such as Coniston, Phoenix, Prospect, Slaters and Southport, as well as Saxon farm cider, decent wines and around 25 malt whiskies. They hold a popular beer festival over the first May bank holiday weekend. The spacious gently rustic garden has a well tended but unconventional bowling green, and beyond this, a wild area that is home to crested newts and moorhens. Selling interesting wines and pottery, the shop housed in the handsome side barn includes a proper butcher and a deli.