IF you are wanting a beautiful hotel stay with some fantastic classic British food, we’ve found just the place.
Here’s everything you need to know about staying at the Pheasant Inn.
Where is the Pheasant Inn?
The hotel is a minute’s drive from the M4 in the Berkshire Downs Area of Outstanding National Beauty.
What is the hotel like?
This 450-year-old Young’s inn was the perfect R&R for my wife and I on our way home after rainy camping in Wales.
What are the rooms like?
As we entered our room, birdsong through the window competed check with Classic it out FM humming from a Roberts radio.
Egyptian cotton linen with a Hypnos mattress, carefully curated books and minibar snacks including gourmet crisps, nuts, olives and Smarties, along with Bramley bath products, completed the welcome.
Double rooms from £98 on a room-only basis. See thepheasant-inn.co.uk.
What is there to eat and drink?
Head chef Santosh and his team “bring their own secrets” to the Pheasant restaurant’s “best of British” menu – and they work magic.
I dined on crayfish with Bloody Mary sauce and caper berries, rump steak then chocolate cheesecake with vanilla ice-cream, cherry hazelnut and honeycomb.
My wife enjoyed salmon pate with pickled veg, herbcrusted lamb cutlet with carrot puree, broad-bean mousse, king oyster mushroom and jus, then sticky toffee pudding.
It was a miracle we could face the banging Full English brekkie the next day.
What else is there to do there?
You may spot a jockey or three at the bar, as Lambourn is famed for its racehorse training and nearby Newbury Racecourse.
Great trekking and cycling abound, or browse antique shops at Hungerford, ride a narrowboat on the Kennet and Avon Canal and venture into Marlborough.
Is it family friendly?
Families can pay an extra £15 a night for beds that sleep ages 2-14, while those under two stay for free.
They also have ‘Borrow Boxes’ in the room with activities for kids to use while there.
Is the hotel accessible?
There is wheelchair access to the restaurant and some of the rooms are on the ground floor.