“Rustic pub with genius cooking” is one reader’s snappy verdict on The Butchers Arms – a convivial 16th-century country boozer and genuine home-from-home for the local community with its proper welcome and ever-changing real ales from the likes of Wye Valley Butty Bach, Dorothy Goodbody and Wickwar Bob. Wooden floors, roaring fires and low, beamed ceilings add to the mood, but what really makes this place is its exceptional food. Chef/landlord James Winter cooks with the seasons in mind, offering a succinct menu full of startlingly good dishes a world away from your average pub grub: grilled octopus with pork dumpling, honey-roast pork belly, ginger and coriander dressing is a typically thrilling starter, while mains might run from aged rib of Longhorn beef with a mini oxtail pie, butternut squash purée and buttered spinach to roasted Looe turbot with lobster cannelloni, palourde clams and samphire. To conclude, perhaps try Eccles cake with comice pear sorbet. Although CAMRA-friendly ales loom large, there’s also a decent choice of affordable wines.