The Sunday Times
Rural-sceptic Tim Hayward – “I regard the countryside as a soft-play area for terminal romantics” – was all but converted to the joys of pastoral life by this Hobbit-sized pub in the Nadder Valley, owned by fellow critic Faye Maschler’s son Ben.
Chef Dave Winter’s “massively comforting menu” showed real talent, most notably in a seafood stew with orzo. “This felt like a talented chef improvising rather than some overwrought ‘signature’ dish. It wasn’t in any idiom — let’s face it, Mediterranean seafood classics have no place in The Shire, but it felt like he’d stood there, tasting his broth and thinking, yep, you know what this needs? Some saffron and some chilli. It’s not a bouillabaisse, it’s pure Nadder Valley, sui generis and bloody beautiful.”
Tim kipped contentedly upstairs in a “smart hayloft”, and hit the road next morning after “the sort of fried breakfast they write Norse poetry about”.
Tim Hayward - 2024-05-19
Drinks
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