We visited a pub in the Wyre Forest countryside which is a true family affair and which prides itself on high quality food

One of the most notable places to stop on the road comes within the small village of Far Forest, set between Cleobury Mortimer and Bewdley in splendid isolation, with a pub which the owner says generates sounds of amazement from those entering for the first time.

The Plough Inn is a pub which has stood in the village since the 17th century and has been seen as a feature of the village to all who visit, with open fires and rustic decor just a small part of why the pub is popular.

It has been owned by the Giles family since 2000, with Mark Giles saying a lot of work had gone into renovating and extending the size of the Plough Inn both before and after he took over.

He said: "It's been renovated and renovated and renovated since we took it on 25 years ago, with the previous owner Jim Cooke doing a good job with the pub and put two nice extensions in.

"We've done a lot of work since and it's now got around five extensions added to the pub, which means we can fit in around 170 people."

Mr Giles said he had come to the Plough after having run a pub in Bromsgrove and said that he liked the look of the pub when he first saw it, so took it on and worked to build its reputation as a place to eat.

He said: "I thought it was a lovely, cosy and warm country pub and we decided to put on carveries, so we put twin carveries in to begin with and then, even after we took one out, we were getting lots and lots of people in.

"I think we do really good food here and I also think we're cheaper than Wetherspoons in a lot of cases."

The Plough Inn offers a warm and welcoming atmosphere that caters to all ages, and with original woodwork and designs still in place, the traditional pub features beautiful open fires that make it an ideal venue for any occasion. 

Mr Giles said it was more dry led than wet led and was mainly a restaurant with a number of drinking and dining areas served from the main bar, and said that people would elicit sounds of amazement on walking in.

He said: "We are a nice and homely pub and, right now, we've got all the Christmas decorations up, which we've spent thousands on over the years, and the look of the place makes people go 'wow' when they walk in as there's so much to look at.

"We're more of a place to eat as people mostly go to Bewdley if they want to really drink, but we are a freehold, and so we get our supply from Heineken, as well as getting in beers from Wye Valley, plus we have close to 100 gins on offer."

The menu at present includes treats like a Cantonese beef sizzler, cod and chips, hunters chicken, scampi, a selection of quality steaks and lamb shanks, as well as indulgent desserts such as chocolate brownie and sticky toffee pudding.

Mr Giles said the most popular meal offering was the carvery, which is served in four sittings on Sundays and booking is essential and advised for other busy times, and spoke about the other plans for the menu, as well as saying how much of a family affair the pub was to him.

He said: "The menu after Christmas is going to be offered as two courses for £10.99, with everything being homemade, from the stocks to even including the horseradish sauce, and we get all our meat fresh from stockists in Scotland, as well as local if we can.

"The Plough for me is about the whole family as the whole family revolves around the place, with my son running a pub called the Fox as well, and this is a true family-run pub, from daughters to nan and grandad and even great-grandnan, so it's just a brilliant place."