The Countryman, Daventry

Official site of The Countryman - www.thecountrymanstaverton.co.uk

Official site of The Countryman - www.thecountrymanstaverton.co.uk

The Countryman is a fine village free house on the Daventry Road in the village of Staverton Like a lot of village pubs it has moved to focus on dry sales to make a living and it is building quite a reputation for its restaurant. The original stone built pub building now makes up the bar area with its large central brick fireplace, and comfortable lounge seating to the left and right of the serving area. And the building has been much extended over the years and the restaurant section is now in the two roomed area behind the bar with the original exterior stone pub wall now forming the interior wall to the restaurant. The Countryman is a free house and has three regularly changing real ales, usually from smaller local breweries. For our visit, as well as CW Bombardier, Wagtail from Great Oakley and What the foxes Hat from the Church End Brewery were on and these latter two were tested and found to be excellently kept. We chose to eat here (which I can recommend as the better option if staying in the DeVere Hotel just up the road) and the menu sits in that space certainly above standard pub grub but just below a typical full blown Gastro menu, and although there are still references to the dreaded “rustic breads” and “jus”, the time honoured pub classics like cod and chips and steak and ale pie are all included. For what we had the quality and flavours certainly justified the price level above normal standard pub fare. As did the service, which was friendly and attentive, despite it being a full house in the restaurant section. As well as the restaurant being full, there was a lively crowd of locals in the bar just for the beer and it was really good to see a village pub performing so well and long may it remain to do so.