From the outside it is one of those lovely picturesque old pubs that this country is famous for but inside, having had a refurbishment in 2006, it has the modern wow factor!  The colour scheme is pleasing to the eye and so along with a warm welcome from the staff we enjoyed the atmosphere.. 

During the Winter months they do a £10 lunch menu for two courses; they also have a Bar Snack Menu which includes a Ramblers Lunch - homemade soup of the day and a ham or cheese baguette with fries for £8.50 a Ploughman's @ £6.95 and hot open toasted sandwiches with several different bread choices (gluten free included) and fillings @ £6.50.  Needless to say we chose from the main lunch menu and went for the Specials which I will describe shortly, but want to report they provide a Classical Choice which includes fish and chips, sausage and mash, moule and frite, a choice of 6, all @ £9.50 and good portion sizes.  We were told later that these are the favourite choices for business people who come out regularly from Andover and want quick service, what a lovely place to spend your lunch hour!  The Classics stay on the Menu all the time but our Specials change monthly.  They certainly cater for every taste.  

Whilst waiting for our starters we given the most delicious home made breads to munch on.  We started with pea and smoked salmon risotto with sour cream and chives £6.25, pan roasted scallops with pancetta, rocket puree and a tomato saffron dressing £8.75 and lastly, baby beetroot and char grilled artichoke salad with orange and goats cheese £5.95.  All very good flavours, portion sizes and well presented.

For our main courses, a tiger prawns with wok fried noodles, bok choi and a ginger hot and sour broth £16.95, free range pork cutlet with chorizo and borlotti bean cassoulet £16.95, pan fried monk fish medallions with cumin roasted carrots and black pudding £16.50.  There is a choice of side orders at £2.75 each and we chose a portion of braised leeks with smoked bacon and cheese.  Once again all our choices were delicious and as you can see from our pictures very appetising.  We accompanied our lunch with a House Rose Pinot Grigot at £15.95 and of course we had G & T's to start.  They use the local Test Valley Wine Suppliers, in fact they use local produce suppliers whenever possible.

Now The Dessert Menu is something very different!  Their scrummy sounding puddings are accompanied by unusual flavoured homemade ice creams and vary from £5.50 to £6.95.  Having discussed with the lovely Sara, our mine host, that none of us really could manage a dessert but were very interested in the ice cream and sorbet flavours it was decided, for research purposes obviously, that we should try a small selection.  One would normally have a selection of 3 but as we were 3 she gave us 7!  Sorry no photo, we forgot, too busy enjoying them all - strawberry, vanilla, rum& raisin, Seville marmalade, cinnamon, Morella cherry and passion fruit & orange.  For a real mouth clearer the passion fruit and orange sorbet was delicious but honestly they were all extremely flavoursome and a must try.  Included on this Dessert Menu is The British Cheese Selection -  Lyburn Old Winchester, Barkham Blue, Capricorn Goats and Tunworth.  We had a little taster of the Lyburn Old Winchester, a semi hard excellent flavoured local cheese, another must try!