After walking 10 miles of the Ridgeway, Andy and I were ready to rest our weary feet and fill our rumbling bellies, and since The Jolly Huntsman was named the Gazette & Herald pub of the year last year, we thought we’d go and see why.

It is set in the heart of Kington St Michael village and, despite it being midweek, we were hard pushed to find a space in the car park.

We were immediately given a warm welcome.

The pub seems to be an eatery first and foremost, but with a relaxed atmosphere.

I chose the prawn cocktail to start and was impressed at their modern take on the 70s classic, enclosed in smoked salmon rather than a retro glass.

It was served with mixed leaves and not too smothered in marie rose sauce.

As well as your usual pub food, there are a few out-of-the-ordinary dishes on offer such as kangaroo steak, and Andy opted to try the pigeon breasts, which he said had a very subtle taste that was not overpowered by the very smooth black pudding.

The starters cost £6.25/£6.50 but were very filling, and with the consistently efficient service we didn’t have to wait long until the main course, so for once I was glad it wasn’t too over-facing a portion.

My multi-layered wild mushroom and leek lasagne (£9.95) had a thick covering of melted cheese and came with an excitingly varied salad containing red onion and olives, all adding to the lovely array of strong flavours.

Sadly most of the chips were crispy rather than chunky as I like them.

Andy’s generous helping of duck breast (£15.95) was tender and soaked up a sweet cranberry gravy nicely.

It was served on a bed of light and fluffy dauphinoise potatoes, with a separate dish of still slightly firm broccoli, carrots and red cabbage.

He managed to find room for a dessert (£4.75) and ordered chocolate brownies with toffee sauce and ice cream.

It looked a delicious gooey delight and what I forced myself to taste, for review purposes only of course, gave confirmation.

The bill came to £45.20 with a couple of lime and soda waters.