Out & About April 2017

EAT OUT

Originally a blacksmith’s forge in the 19th century, the Spotted Dog is a family and pet-friendly pub – and a place to take your grandmother with their special OAP deal. On Sundays it offers a choice of four meats and prices start from £12.50. Choose from beef, lamb, pork or chicken with the usual accompaniments, including Yorkshires and roasts. Children can have a roast dinner for £6.95. OAPs get the same treatment and starters include soup and good old-fashioned prawn cocktail. Food is served from 12-6pm on Sundays.

Sunday lunch at the Donnington Valley Hotel is served in the WinePress restaurant from 12.30-2pm and two courses cost £19, three £22. Mains include roast chicken with roast potatoes, glazed parsnips and green beans, or roast English sirloin of beef, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, cabbage and carrots. There’s also baked salmon with new potatoes or a braised lamb shank and a vegetarian option.

Donnington Valley Hotel, Old Oxford Road, Donnington, 01635 551199, www.donningtonvalley.co.uk/

The Spotted Dog, Gladstone Lane, Cold Ash, 01635 862458 www.spotteddogcoldash.co.uk

As part of the Ramsbury estate with its own brewery, distillery and smokehouse, The Bell serves modern European cuisine in the restaurant and country classics. On Sundays, the restaurant offers two courses for £19.50 and three courses for £24.50 – expect 28 day dry-aged Butts farm sirloin of beef, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, slow roast English onion, baby gem and carrot puree. Or roast chicken breast or slow cooked Gloucestershire Old Spot pork shoulder. The Bell at Ramsbury, nr Marlborough, 01672 520 230, www.thebellramsbury.com CHOCOLATE FIX Moo free

The Winterbourne is a good place to stop on a walk or to walk off the Sunday roast. Those less energetic can simply wander the lovely gardens. On Sunday try traditional roast beef or roast turkey for £14.95, but often roast partridge is a choice or braised wild rabbit served with tarragon risotto, smoked bacon and Parmesan. Meats come with veg like braised red cabbage, butter baked carrots and parsnips, tender stem broccoli, duck fat roast potatoes, celeriac, Yorkshire pudding and red wine gravy. Last food order is 3.30pm on Sundays.

The Winterbourne Arms, Winterbourne, Newbury 01635 248200

Leading (and local) ‘free from’ chocolate manufacturer, Reading-based Moo Free has some innovative Easter eggs this year – original, orange and bunnycomb. The chocolate from which the eggs and the buttons (each egg now includes 20g of chocolate buttons) are made is a multi- award winning recipe with rice milk, and it recently won Best Vegan Chocolate at the VegFest Awards, 2016. Even better, its dairy-free chocolates are also free from gluten, wheat, lactose, soya and casein, completely vegetarian and vegan, and certified organic. And the Moo Free Easter bunny has bucked the chocolate trend in another way - they now all weigh 120g, up

Run by Simon Page and Jason King, The Wellington Arms is a smart gastropub with a sustainable ethos – be inspired by the fabulous vegetable garden, see the beehives, sheep, hens and pigs or buy a cute tea cosy knitted by Simon’s mum. Sunday dishes can include roast Grange Farm beef ribeye with a Yorkshire pudding and home-grown horseradish cream for £18 or roast rack of Orchard Farm middlewhite pork with crackling and apple sauce for £17.50, both served with roast potatoes, red onion, home-grown fennel, root vegetable gratin and a generous jug of red wine sauce.

from 100g in 2016, but are still £4.25 each. Available in supermarkets, larger retailers and

independent high-street stores. www.moofreechocolates.com.

The best eggs Tesco and Aldi are the places to head for the best Easter eggs according to the Good Housekeeping Institute. Tesco’s Finest Belgian Milk Chocolate Hidden Egg (£15) has just been voted the best Easter egg in Britain and Aldi’s Giant Chocolate Bunny (£3.99) the best for kids. 127 eggs were assessed on their appearance, aroma and texture, and judged in different categories including kids, teens, adults, sharing and free-from. But the judges weren’t happy with a lot of the eggs. “Retailers have definitely upped their game with innovative and eye-catching products, but, disappointingly, much of the chocolate failed to deliver on taste,” said Caroline Bloor, consumer director at Good Housekeeping.

The Wellington Arms, Baughurst, 0118 982 0110 www.thewellingtonarms.com

The proverbial… ‘As much use as a chocolate teapot’ – well now’s your chance to try one £24.99, from www.thefowndry.com. Novelty chocolate usually doesn’t live up to the delicious goodness you expect, however this teapot is made from 600 grams of the finest Belgium chocolate – and apart from being able to eat the entire teapot, you can also use this to create the ultimate hot chocolate or fondue.

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