The Cross Guns, Avoncliff, Bradford on Avon BA15 2HB.

01225 862335

www.crossguns.net

The Cross Guns at Avoncliff is a beautiful 16th Century inn located on the steep slopes of Avoncliff, overlooking the River Avon and the Kennet and Avon Canal aqueduct.

We arrived to a warm welcome from the barman who encouraged us to take our time choosing from the extensive list of real ales, lagers and ciders on offer.

The decor of the inn is as you would expect in an old style village pub, with pictures, hangings and knick-knacks (including numerous chamber pots for some reason) all over the walls and ceiling.

The effect is a homely, relaxed feel. Plenty of tables are squeezed into the dining area, but it wasn’t cramped.

The service was prompt, friendly and efficient with only a short wait between courses, which is always pleasing.

The menu is extensive and included an excellent selection of fresh fish dishes on the specials board; we counted 11 types. The rest of the menu includes grills, poultry, burgers and pub classics.

For starters we chose the Mexican garlic bread with cheese, and black pudding. Both were tasty and portions were generous, extremely so in the case of the garlic bread, which would have served as a lunch in itself.

For our main courses we had the whole sea bass with tomatoes, lemon butter, and sauteed potatoes, chicken stroganoff served with rice, and oven roasted duck breast with an orange and redcurrant jus, accompanied by a jacket potato.

The sea bass was wonderfully cooked, as were the potatoes and were both very tasty.

The stroganoff and rice was also very tasty, with a lovely sauce.

Unfortunately the duck was curiously flavourless, the jus too sweet and, disappointingly, the jacket potato had not been oven baked.

Only one of us managed a dessert, choosing the sticky treacle sponge with custard, which was delicious.

Good service and a wide menu in a lovely location made for a good evening. Two starters, three main courses, a dessert and drinks came to £61.40.

Open 10am-11pm daily

Main menu noon-2pm, 6.30pm-9pm, ‘Lite Bites’ noon-9pm

Large selection of ales, cider, lager, cocktails and malt whiskies

Children’s menu

Main courses range from £8.50 to £18.50

Our Eating Out is an independent review carried out by the Times without prior knowledge of the owners.