The Axe & Compasses, Ware

This old building is now more restaurant than pub,but there are bar stools and a single table where you could pitch down for a beer.In fine weather I am sure the front benches and rear garden come into their own for drinkers. The interior has low ceilings,exposed beams,wooden floor throughout and a wood burner to the front left with ladies and gents accessed via small doors either side of the chimney breast,easy to miss.The raised rear room is clearly for diners while the furniture throughout is mainly large tables with benches ,often large enough to accomodate three people at least. The food is very good with notes in the menu of the local sources for meat,vegatables,sausages and beef.I was impressed by the cooking and although prices are at a premium for a pub,they still represented good value.Most mains are £10-18,starters and puddings around £5.There are small meal alternatives and home made breads for sandwiches and ploughmans. There are three handpumps but only two dispensing Wadworth's Henry's IPA and a well kept Woodforde Wherry which seem to be the regular ales.Sadly there is little pub vibe here these days but the standard of the cooking warrants a visit to this attractive,small village pub.

The Axe and Compasses sits in the main street through the village of Braughing a few doors down from the Green King tied house the Brown Bear and has the advantage of being a Free House. It has had a bit of an upmarket refurbishment and there is now more focus on serving food. However the interior is nice enough, and still has that traditional feel with a flagstone floor, heavy original beams and a couple of real fires sat against more modern furniture which is now used. The back area is more focussed on eating and is laid to dining, but the front area remains a more traditional pub space, with the heavy beams, fireplaces and some of the thinnest doors I have come across to access the toilets off to the left. There are a few seats out front where the villagers tend to congregate on sunny days, but a better outdoor area is the large garden area to the back of the pub, which is separated from the large village sports fields by a yew hedge. There are three hand pumps on the bar and as an outlet for the Norfolk Woodfordes brewery, Wherry is usually on. And on my last visit the other two pumps were dispensing Wadsworth Henry's Original IPA. Both pints we had were in very good nick. The food is good here, albeit pricewise a bit above standard pub fare. But they do have smaller plates available at £7.00 and the mains are between £10 to £20 and you can get the Braughing sausages and mash, for which the village is famous for, for a Tenner.