Hemel Hempstead, British, Traditional Restaurant Guide

A “very pleasant country pub” helmed by Sally & Alvin Michaels for two decades, and whose “good food” of Anglo-French bent (including home-smoked fish and meat, and local game) “attracts diners from well beyond its area”; indeed, one reporter who took far-flung American visitors found that they “loved the location and quaintness” of this attractive Georgian locale – also handy for the Harry Potter experience at Warner Bros Studio nearby.

2021 Review: “Just reopened and even better than before”, this ultra-lux country-house hotel has an unusual ‘high-concept’ buffet-style dining room inspired by Asian food halls, with chefs cooking at eight ‘live action food stations’ (robata grill, seafood, tandoor oven et al), from which guests choose as much as they want. It’s not fine dining, but it is good-value in its way and it’s something-for-everyone style suits entertaining or a family get-together.

Katherine (daughter of the late Terry Wogan) and Henry Cripps have long stewarded this top-class, good-value gastroboozer, in a “nice location” near the local golf club; the “seriously good food” makes it “much more than a pub” and “friendly staff” ensure a good welcome.

This “fantastic” brick-and-timber boozer is a properly historic venue which, at 900 years old, may even be England’s oldest free house; its warren-like rooms have featured on many a TV show (not least ‘Midsomer Murders’, which is namechecked by their chicken pie), and its menu of pleasing classics (burgers, fish pies) plays an admirable supporting role.

This “good local gastropub” offers food that is a step up from most rivals (think soufflés at both ends of the meal), thanks to being “part of the Raymond Blanc outfit” – the former White Brasserie Group, renamed as Heartwood Inns in summer 2023.