The Red Lion, Snargate

Best pub ever. Doris and her daughter are brilliant, the summer festival is brilliant, the hallowe'en pumpkin carving festival is brilliant (although I believe you can only enter if you bought the seeds from Doris), the beer is brilliant, the beer-stealing chickens are brilliant...you get my drift.

The overgrown garden is wonderful to sit in on a summers day, very quiet with only the occasional roar of an old motorbike as a beardy fan of real beer arrives or leaves. The chickens poking around are partial to a crisp and if your pint has overflowed in to your tray then they'll have that too. They are the healthiest chooks I've ever seen. The guinea fowl is less interested!

Every time I've been I've met people who have travelled for miles on a recommendation. Not that it's exactly my local - it's almost an hours drive! Don't come expecting anything more substantial than a packet of crisps, and remember that Doris keeps traditional hours.

The walls, as already mentioned, are covered with assorted memorabilia including photos from Doris' days as a land girl, beer mats, posters, coins and old signs. Lighting is fairly, um, atmospheric and it is like sitting in someone's parlour but all good fun.

One word of warning - the toilets are outdoors in a shed. They are probably cleaner than a lot of pub toilets but the dirt that's there is different. Plus arachnophobes might not like it.

9 Sep 2008 19:26