Queen’s Head

Described as 'a wonderful antithesis of the gastropub', the Queen's Head is a proper old-fashioned village hostelry sitting a few miles south of Cambridge, run by successive generations of the Short family since 1962. Whether it's full of happy babble or quiet enough to hear the clock tick, this place is a true diamond, festooned with hops and alarming taxidermy, plus large open fires and seats in the garden for those sunny fine days. Pie night is worth booking in advance: pick your favourite (steak and ale, perhaps) and wait for it to come to you, accompanied by proper mash, something green, and a jug of gravy that might airbrush your school-dinner memories into respectability. Soup is specified only by shade of brown, but is full of nutritious comfort anyway. It's a good lunch staple, together with loaded sandwiches that leave no square inch uncovered (don't miss the home-roasted beef). Midweek street-food vans are an alluring novelty, too. Drink local ales poured straight from the barrel, well-selected wines or a shot of locally distilled Jake's gin.