The Crown & Garter

This traditional 17th-century, family-run free house is said to have been used by James II on the way to visit one of his mistresses. Today, its historic charm is best seen in the bar, where there's a huge inglenook fireplace and criss-crossing beams, and which West Berkshire and Ramsbury breweries supply with their beers. You can eat in the bar, the wood-panelled restaurant, on the patio or even under an oak tree in the beer garden. The daily-changing menu might feature fried fillet of haddock with chips and mushy peas; curried chicken jalfrezi with basmati rice; and spinach and Stilton tart with tomato and basil salsa, while a typical dessert would be apple strudel with toffee ice cream. The spacious en suite bedrooms are built round a pretty cottage garden, making the inn a good base for cycling and walking, perhaps to Combe Gibbet on top of 975-feet Inkpen Beacon.