As London lets go of the concrete and smudges into the countryside, there are villages like Harefield and pubs like The Old Orchard. The views belong to storybooks and quiet British films: nothing but fields and hedgerows and horses, and rivers and reservoirs. Inside The Old Orchard is a pub of dark wood and open fires, and a bar bustling with gins and whiskies, plus a run of decent ales.
Food changes often, but centres on pub classics — braised lamb shoulder, beef and venison suet pudding, that sort of thing. Because of this, it is somewhere to unwind in, spend the day in: arrive early for a pint at the bar, settle into lunch, totter off to one of the comfy seats afterwards, watch as one friend slowly drifts to sleep. If the weather holds, the garden is where to be. But when the cold comes in, head inside to settle in among the regulars and their dogs padding harmlessly about.
Park Lane, Harefield, Uxbridge, UB9 6HJ, brunningandprice.co.uk/oldorchard
