The Stagg Inn, Titley, Kington

Rating: ***** It was a day of bright sunshine and then blinding rain - a typical English summer's day! But we wanted to take a trip out and enjoy the countryside and then complete the day with a nice meal, writes Sharon Walters .

So off we set through the stunning south Shropshire countryside and then just over the border into north Herefordshire and the village of Titley, and the renowned Stagg Inn.

Renowned because of a shelf full of good-eating recommendations and personal recommendations from friends.

I have been intending for years to go along and finally made it during a storm. As we pulled up on the car park next to an extremely pretty garden the heavens opened and we had to wait a while in the car to avoid arriving looking like two drowned rats.

The building is welcoming from the outside and most welcoming inside. And made even warmer by the welcome of Nicola Reynolds who runs the pub/restaurant with husband Steve, who is chef.

We chose to sit in the cosy bar complete with fire - essential on this somewhat chilly day - rather than the more formal restaurant.

You can mix and match from the bar and restaurant menus and can eat bar snacks in the restaurant during the week, but not during busy weekend sessions or Sunday lunchtime. Now that is eminently sensible.

Chef Steve regularly changes the menus and with particular emphasis on seasonal ingredients. He also buys as near to home as possible and his mum provides sausages, black pudding and salami from her Middle White pigs, along with eggs from her hens and ducks.

It was difficult to make choices with so much that attracted on bar and restaurant listings. Eventually we went for a mix.

Fresh bread arrived which went down a treat.

I started with broad bean and pea risotto with mild goat's cheese (£6.50). In one word: faultless. It was creamy risotto with crunchy beans and peas and a faint tang of the cheese. My dish was wiped clean.

Neil had homemade tomato soup (£4.50) which was spicy and tangy and just what he wanted on a rainy day.

Next I had a meal from the specials board - a locally produced thick and juicy pork chop with local black pudding, served with creamy mash and gravy (£9.95).

It was a huge portion but so full of taste. So much pork today is bland and lifeless but this was as I remember pork produced by my late father-in-law many years ago.

Be kind to the porkers and slaughter close to home, and the meat is astounding. In fact he was so kind he used to rub their backs with suntan oil when it was very sunny and feed them titbits. Happy pigs make happy meat.

Neil had homemade faggots with mash and mushy peas (£9.50). He really does appreciate a nice faggot and this disappeared quickly indeed.

The mash was as smooth and creamy as mine although he wasn't that keen on the peas, but then that's down to him as he prefers unadulterated garden ones.

Feeling 'stuffed' might sound a little basic but that was how we did indeed feel.

However, the lure of puddings and the sight of the cheeseboard at the next table were tempting.

So after a short break we cantered up to the final fence.

I ordered rose, chocolate and lavender meringue with raspberry and cherry sorbets (£5.90) and Neil the cheese (£7.90). Those prices might sound a little steep but let me assure you they are not.

My meringue was an interesting mixture and while I liked the seperate elements I didn't like them altogether - but Neil did! One man's etc . . .

And so to the cheese. The Stagg has a large selection of British cheeses with the emphasis on regional cheeses made in Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Wales. You choose four in excellent condition and get lovely biscuits, celery, fruit and chutney.

We shared both courses and enjoyed a most satisfying end to a meal.

And we didn't need to eat anything until mid-morning the following day.

The wine list has good choice and is fairly priced with eight wines by the glass from £3, and house wines start at £13.50 a bottle.

My only question is: Why did I leave it so along to visit?

ADDRESS

The Stagg Inn, Titley, Kington HR5 3RL

Tel: 01544 230221

MENU SAMPLE

STARTERS

Seared scallops on creamed leeks (£8.90); trout tartare with tomato & butter (£8.50); pressed baked pig's head with onion purée (£7.50)

MAIN COURSES

Herefordshire rump steak with chips, salad and béarnaise sauce (£14.90); sea bass fillet on crab risotto with green salad (£16.90); Middle White belly pork with apple and celery salad and cider potato fondant

DESSERTS

Bread and butter pudding with crème anglaise; apricot and almond tart with vanilla ice-cream); Pedro Ximenez sherry and hazelnut cheesecake (all desserts £5.90)

ATMOSPHERE

Warm and inviting

SERVICE

Relaxed and efficient

DISABLED FACILITIES

No disabled facilities but help given