The recent AA Hospitality Awards gave top wine list prize to Roger Jones who, with his wife Sue, runs the distinctly superior country pub, The Harrow at Little Bedwyn, beating allcomers from many fancier, more urban places.
Roger is a frequent and of course knowledgeable contributor to the lively your turn forum on purple pages, most recently defending Krug, or rather insisting that it will all come right eventually for the cuvée currently on the market in the cream-dominated label (see my recent report on a blind tasting of current non vintage dated champagnes).
Although the address is Wiltshire, the nearby town is Hungerford which, almost incredibly, can be reached by train on Sundays from Paddington. Wine-loving Londoners could therefore get the 10.37 from Paddington and, with the help of a taxi or an alluring (in fine weather) short walk along the Kennet and Avon Canal, be at the Harrow soon after noon, catching the 14.56, or after a bracing walk, the 16.56 back from Hungerford after a thoroughly fortifying lunch. The alternative, I suppose, is to be driven by an abstinent friend. Perhaps Roger has other suggestions. The food and service were excellent when we lunched here all too long ago.
The Harrow at Little Bedwyn
Marlborough
Wiltshire
SN8 3JP
tel 01672 870 871
dining@harrowinn.co.uk
www.harrowinn.co.uk