Pub with rooms in Rowde, Wiltshire | The George & Dragon

Overview

In truth, the plain, cream pebble-dashed façade of the George and Dragon may not set the heart racing with anticipation as it looks like just another roadside boozer. Things improve at the back, where there is a delightful summer terrace and tucked away garden with the higgledy-piggledy nature of the building indicating great age and character.

Step inside the rustic bar, however, and you are transported back to 1645, to a world of wooden floors, simple benches and farmhouse chairs, old school tables and a log fire blazing on the hearth in the impressive stone fireplace. Equally unfussy is the black and white timbered dining room, decorated with pictures and displays of homemade chutneys, leaving the food to take rightful centre stage.

It's been famous for fresh and beautifully cooked fish and seafood for many years and the three quirky upstairs bedrooms offer style and comfort, and a great base for exploring the Caen Hills Locks on the Kennet & Avon Canal. The ebullient and much loved owner Chris 'Chippy' Day ensures the place ticks along like clockwork.

Rooms from

3 doubles: £95

Good to know

All credit cards taken
Alfresco dining
Cellar private dining room
Parking available
Dogs welcome overnight

Alfresco

Super shaded rear terrace with wood burning stove and a secluded garden with rocking chairs and views of the church.

Kennet & Avon Canal

Take a stroll along the Kennet & Avon Canal at Caen Hill, one of the longest continuous flight of locks in the country - a total of 29 locks with a rise of 237 feet over 2 miles with a 1 in 44 gradient.

Rooms

Wonky floors, wood panelling and wall timbers are prominent in three quirky and very individual bedrooms - all have been spruced up by Tina Foster from Mushroom London.

Think funky wall coverings, loads of cushions, plasma screens, feature fireplaces, White Company goose down duvets on big beds, I-pod clock radios, and Cow Shed toiletries and fluffy white bathrobes in gleaming tiled bathrooms.

Room 1 has a French wooden bed and Room 3 has a day bed and an old claw-foot bath in the bedroom. Continental breakfast is included in the room price but there's a full breakfast menu to choose from as well. Plans are in place to add two more rooms.

Restaurant & bar

Fish delivered daily from Cornwall is the speciality and the ever-changing chalkboard menu has been wowing landlocked Wiltshire diners for years.

Classic starters range from dressed crab and spicy fishcakes with lemon mayonnaise to half a dozen oysters served natural or grilled Kilpatrick style (with bacon and Worcester sauce). Straightforward grills, say whole Dover sole, skate wing with caper butter and whole Cornish lobster, are mixed with more enterprising ideas, such as cod with pesto crumb, olive oil mash and wilted spinach. Why not splash out on the renowned seafood platter. If you don't fancy fish and red meat is more to your taste, then you may devilled lamb kidneys with grainy mustard cream on toast on the menu.

The short list of simple, traditional puddings might include warm chocolate souffle cake. The set Sunday lunch (served until 4pm) is excellent value and, to drink, you'll find local Butcombe ale on tap and a raft of wines by the glass.

Private dining

The old cellar has been spruced up and cleverly reimagined as an unusual private dining space - perfect for an intimate gathering for family and friends.

Things to do

Located just outside Melksham, Great Chalfield Manor & Garden is a moated medieval manor with oriel windows and rooftops adorned with striking statues of soldiers, griffins and monkeys. Aside from the house, there are colourful gardens, a spring-fed fishpond and a gatehouse.

The picturesque Saxon village of Lacock has changed little since the Middle Ages. Preserved by the National Trust, Lacock's stone cottages and narrow streets are regularly visited by film and television crews and looking round, you can understand why. Harry Potter and Cranford have been filmed here, among many familiar productions and adaptations. While in the village, take a look at Lacock Abbey and the Fox Talbot Museum of photography.