NOW that autumn (or is it winter?) has firmly settled in, our trips out tend to be Sunday lunches, instead of evening visits to pubs. Having just got back from holiday, where we’d been royally spoilt with cuisine from around the world, we fancied traditional British, and headed off to this village pub between Trowbridge and Westbury, which has long had a good local reputation for its Sunday roasts.

On this showing, follow the local recommendations and you won’t go wrong.

We’d booked, and after a bit of a wait to get to the front of the queue for the bar to confirm our reservation, and a small confusion over which name we’d booked under, we were served drinks and told the table would be ready soon.

Which it was, and we sat down in a long room, full of diners enjoying their meals and a very large, mixed age, family party who looked to be celebrating an elderly member’s birthday.

They were braver than us and ordered three courses: having eaten here before, and seen from the sight of plates being carried past us that the portion size hadn’t changed, we decided to restrict ourselves to two.

It was good to see (we weren’t actively eavesdropping but it is quite a small space) that they easily found something everyone liked, including the little ones and older people with smaller appetites, and that the children were offered colouring to do, as well as the toys their parents had sensibly brought, to keep them happy while the food arrived.

We’d come for Sunday lunch, so there was no contest, it was roast dinner for us both. Glenn went for the plate of roast beef only (£11.99), while I spotted they were serving turkey on the mixed meat platter and wanted some of that, as I don’t subscribe to the turkey is only for Christmas school of thought. So I got a slice of beef, one of lamb, a chunk of turkey and some sausages for an extra £1.

Both plates came with decent size roasties, two Yorkshire puddings and a stuffing ball, as well as separate dishes of vegetables - so many that you could eat four of your five-a-day in one meal. If you had room......We’d ordered extra cauliflower cheese at £3.49, it being one of our favourite vegetables, and almost regretted it until we tasted it, as it was perfectly cooked with lots of really cheesy sauce. Yum yum.

Gravy added, as well as a jug of extra gravy, rounded off the feast. And it came on nice warm but not too-hot-to-touch plates.

So far, so very very good, ticking all the right boxes.

On to pudding, which we’d decided to order after the main meal, to give us time to digest. A good move, cos we were really rather full.

Glenn’s lemon meringue pie disappeared fast, while I took a bit more time over my dark chocolate orange tart, because it was really rich. I was especially pleased with the pastry, nice and crumbly and not a soggy bottom in sight. At £4.95 apiece, and served with cream as requested, they were delicious.

The bill with drinks came to £43.37, great value for a meal which was so enjoyable and filling we didn’t need to eat again all day.

Alison Phillips

Hawkeridge Village

Hawkeridge

Westbury BA13 4LA

01373 826270

www.theroyaloakhawkeridge.co.uk

Parking: Car park

Disabled access: yes

open: Wed-Sat 12 noon-11pm, Sun 11.30am-10pm, closed Mon/Tues

Children's menu available

Food: 8/10

Choice: 10/10

Decor: 7/10

TripAdvisor: 4.5/5