A cosy pub-with-rooms in rural Wiltshire First impressions We approach the village of Burton in darkness because the clocks have just gone back and the traffic on the M4 has been awful. But then, a mere hop, skip and half a jump away from the motorway, a picturesque country farmhouse emerges from the wintry darkness, its honeycomb stone walls covered with red-green ivy. Light pours invitingly from the windows and the light murmur of local chatter and clinking pint glasses surrounds us as we clamber out of the car. This is the kind of country pub Hollywood film scouts would spend months searching for. It is a festive advent calendar of loveliness. The rooms The Warburton family have run this free house for more than two decades (the family’s links with the pub go back further – the pub sign depicts the father of the current proprietor returning from the second world war) and have just built a new wing with six more rooms. After the charm of the pub’s exterior, the rooms themselves are a bit of a let-down. They are poky and feel slightly sterile. The floors are uncarpeted, and although the first thing we both feel like doing is having a long soak in a hot tub, sadly there is no bath, and all the shower gel dispensers are fixed to the wall. On the plus side, there are more mod cons than you could shake a USB stick at: flat-screen television, Wi-Fi access and a mysterious black machine that makes tea and coffee with instant boiling water. A delicious chocolate brownie makes a perfect pre-dinner snack. The food The menu is vast in terms of choice and portion size. I devour the biggest tuna steak I have ever seen, served with a deliciously tangy ratatouille. My boyfriend goes for the extremely punchy beef curry – an OHH special – that comes with poppadoms and an array of chutneys. The desserts are scrumptious – a chocolate Baileys cheesecake feels so sinful it is probably illegal in several midwestern American states.

Original Source The Old House at Home | Hotel review