Evershot couldn’t be more quintessential ‘Thomas Hardy’ if you gave it a pair of blue eyes and renamed it Casterbridge. Its unofficial HQ is the Acorn Inn – a 16th-century coaching inn built of local stone and re-cast by the man himself as the Sow & Acorn in Tess of the D’Urbervilles. The interior certainly flaunts its antiquity, although the food is pleasingly modern in a contemporary-rustic kind of way. A plate of seven-hour braised pork belly in cider or a hefty venison hotpot should hit the spot for would-be Angels and Tesses, but the menu also promises solid British flavours in the shape of twice-baked Dorset Cheddar and walnut soufflé, beer-battered fish and desserts such as creamy rice pudding with rhubarb. Ploughman’s and other pub-grub classics are served in the bar, and the terrior-led wine list offers a terrific selection by the glass.