Country pub of the week: The Lamb Inn, Little Milton

Sometimes refreshment begets refreshment. It followed a long meal at Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir — where wine waiters are famous for their heavy hand —that the Lamb first came up. “But where do you go for a pint?” I prodded the by-now alarmed waiter, who'd attempted but failed to herd our rabble into the bar.

The Lamb was the answer, and what a good one. The Le Manoir connection makes sense, as the pub's head chef Nat Berney was once among the kitchen brigade, but its merits go beyond that. It's a biscuit box pub, with its thatched roof and 16th century proportions, with its stone walls and flickering fire light.

At half the tables, expect dogs, their paws matching their owners’ boots, both muddied from walks in the Chilterns. Food matches Berney’s Michelin pedigree (expect lemon sole, lamb belly, duck tortellini), there’s some big boy wine (but bottles from £23, too), but a cosy wood-beamed bar for those just after a pint. A beauty. You might even see Raymond about.

High Street, Little Milton, lambinnlittlemilton.co.uk