Sunday lunch time saw 6 of us here at the Edgemoor Inn. This has undergone a complete makeover lately.

The Edgemoor Inn is in the Village of Edge, overlooking the beautiful, picturesque Painswick Valley.The late 19th century Inn, constructed from Cotswold stone, has picture style windows and is well known for its pretty panoramic views. It also boasts an extensive terraced patio overlooking Painswick & surrounding countryside unfortunatly it wasn't the best day for views but we'll be back in the summer and hope to get a window seat or even better one of those outside tables overlooking the amazing view!

Great food, good service fab value for money...only niggle was the table was too high for the chairs...I know bieng 5ft nothing doesn't help but I felt like goldilocks at Daddy bears table. Maybe the tables in the restaruatn may be a better height for the chairs...who knows, I'll try it next time and let you know!

The Royal William, Cranham

Oh what a shame!
Before you read this post you should read my last one on this venue. It was great.
We decided to re-visit this place because our local pub was so crowded and yet again minimal bar staff so we couldn't get served.

The Good

Friendly staff
Good choice of menu
Homemade Faggots
Fantastic local cheeses
Ample car parking

The Bad

The lack of imagination of the chef...stir fried vegetables turned out to be circles of carrots and broccoli...carrots circles in a stir fry...how strange is that??
The small child who was being encouraged by her family to get louder and louder (it was after 8pm)
Member of staff back to employing students who was either over the top efficient or down right rude when blatantly talking about us, facing us and making eye contact while doing so ( I am very very good at lip reading!)

The Food

Chicken & Chorizo with stir fried vegetables
Homemade Faggots with new potatoes carrot cirlces and broccoli
Local produced cheese 'n' biscuits served with grapes
Sticky toffee and pecan pudding served with ice cream

Note to self....find new places to eat out!

A friends Birthday Lunch

The Golden Heart

Early lunch - Deep fried brie to start, Steak, Salad, mushroom & red wine sauce for main. No pud or wine.

Food - Brie was a good size and was cooked beautifully, the hunk of bread it was served with was unnecesarily big. Steak was a bit tough and tasteless,the sauce had very little flavour, salad was pittiful.

Service - excellent



Location - pretty, olde worlde, traffic getting into and out of the car park a nightmare...thought I might die!

The Fox and Hounds - Bredon

Another visit to a 16th Century thatched country Inn

This time we took my in-laws. Steak was on the menu (again), along with seasonal vegetables and the deep fried brie for starters. No pudding this time but we did have floater coffees all round. The service was great, yet again, especially by the owners, the waiting staff lost a bit of enthusiasum by the end of the night, but I'm getting to expect that from the young weekend staff where ever we go!! Shame really!

Supper at the Royal William, Cranham

The Royal William is under new management and the word is it is serving home cooked locally supplied Food. All Fresh produce with real ales! That was enough to wet our appetites. The last time we were there, it was all under scaffolding and the interior was in desperate need of a facelift. It had that grubby unloved look with sticky tables and smelly toilets. This time I'm hoping for more, it does look promising though. I rang to book a table and the restaurant is fully booked, we were offered a table in their very comfortable bar area. The chap I spoke to was very pleasant, telling me that they re-opened in early December and have been pretty much full ever since! He also confimed the fresh produce, locally supplied homecooked food!!

I'm looking forward to it...table is booked for 8pm tonight, so I'll be back to comment later!
Ok...
The Good
ø Extremely friendly welcome,
ø polite and helpful staff,
ø décor was great, no more scaffolding,
ø No more smelly carpets
ø The pictures on the wall were of old Cheltenham and were great!
ø I absolutely loved the one of the champagne bottles in the dinning room.
ø The helpful member of staff who took our food order at the table when she realised we hadn’t been told how to order.
ø The large plates. [Not so good on the little table!]
ø The quality of the food
ø The batter on the Pollock – delicious, along with the hand cut chips

The Bad

ø The tiny table for 4 people,
ø Not being told we had to order our food at the bar (what’s all that about?)
ø The stringy chewy piece of gammon (bleugh!)
ø The Beef stroganoff with more mushrooms that beef

The Ugly

ø The uneven floor – Which I know cant’ be helped in such an old building but my elderly guest had difficulty with it
ø The last diners used napkin on the floor underneath my husband’s chair!

I would go back to this restaurant for the homemade chips alone. Loved, loved, loved the attitude of the staff, it’s so refreshing, now-a-days they are usually grumpy students earning their minimum wage with minimum effort!!!

The Fox and Hounds - Bredon

The table is booked for 7:30pm, we are picking my friend up at 7pm. Steaks are what we are after as this is well know for the perfect steak. The last time we were here, Paul had a fantastic steak which rivalled anything he'd had before. Our friend is a big meat eater so I hope it doesn't dissapoint!

Fox and Hounds Pub

It was very quiet when we arrived even though the car park and surrounding roads were full with parked cars?! A very pleasant welcome awaited us and we ordered drinks and sat in the bar. I had a Gin and Tonic, which is a new experience for me, I’m really starting to get a taste for them!
As well as the extensive menu there is a fish special board along with another starters and main meal specials. The best bit is the menu that is written over the fireplace…it’s the dessert menu!!! Chocolate-y and comforting is a good way to describe it.
After much deliberation we (me and Paul) opted for the deep fried brie with the fillet steaks with stilton sauce. Our friend went for the duck pancakes for starters and the sirloin steak for main. I was so pleased I had chosen the cheese when it arrived it was huge and covered in the lightest batter ever, it reminded me of tempura batter it was that thin, and encased the cheese beautifully. It was served with a red currant jam and there was more than enough to go with the rocket salad. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
The duck pancakes went down well, there was too much sauce on it for our friends taste, but looking at it I would say it wouldn’t have been just right for me!

Our main courses were just as anticipated, cooked to perfection, vegetables with bite and a good selection and good portions too! We tucked in with gusto, but Paul was feeling unwell (not food related) so couldn’t eat his…the waitress kindly kept it warm until he was sure that he wouldn’t be able to finish it, she then kindly wrapped up the meat to take home for the yorkie!
Buy the time we were ready for desserts Paul was feeling better so scoffed down a piece of their banoffee pie. This was good he tells me, but not as good as my homemade version…correct answer, he will live to eat another piece of my banoffee pie!! I went for the vanilla pannacotta, this was served with two homemade shortbread biscuits. On first inspection these looked a little overcooked, but once tasted they were lovely and complimented the dessert perfectly.
Our friend declined the offer of dessert as his starter was rather filling so just had an Irish coffee instead. I had a calypso coffee and Paul had a double espresso. The bill for 3 of us was just over the £100 which we thought was good value for money. The wine we had was just over £16 a bottle and was an Italian red. Service was excellent even though one of the waitresses was a little loud but hey she was very friendly too so you can’t complain!

The evening would have been a good 9/10 if it wasn’t marred by Paul feeling unwell, but as that had nothing to do with the restaurant we won’t hold it against them. We will return soon.

Staff Christmas at the Farmers Arms

Farmers Arms - Lower Apperley


I have been here a couple of times now...3 times for a Christmas Dinner and Disco party with the staff from work and a couple of times for sunday lunch with the family.
The food is always good, service is polite, friendly and the owner is a real old fashioned chap who goes out of his way to please. The wine choice is second to none. I love chablis* and there is always one in the fridge....like its just waiting for me to drink it!! This year was no exception, wine, food, service....shame it will be my last Christmas party. I will have to make a special effort to visit with some friends, I really should share this place in the countryside.

BRIE WEDGE WITH RED CURRANT JELLY - Excellent!
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ROAST PRIME RUMP OF BEEF & YORKSHIRE PUDDING*Coated in Red Wine, Mushrooms and Shallot Sauce - Beef was out of this world, served medium rare it was very tasty but could have done with a little more sauce. The Yorkshire pud was a little well done for my liking too :-(
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HAZEL NUT & PEAR CHARLOTTE - This place is well known for their excellent desserts and this was no exception...a wonderul end to the meal.

The disco kicked off as soon as the coffee and mints were being served...the DJ was the same one as they used last year. He is soooo bad it's good!!! The dance floor is full and he changes tempo...it clears...he then changes again...it fills up. Hey it gave us oldies a rest! :-D

*Chablis Le Manior £16.50 per bottle