and the friendly ambience of the pub is a big plus too.

The Green Man has two bars; the one on the left as you go in is the dining area; the other one is more for drinking. Had the weather been warmer, we doubtless could have sat outside, either in the courtyard garden or on one of the picnic tables on the grassy triangle in front of the pub, but the night was drawing in.

Do you remember those picture books you had as a kid, where you could mix up heads, bodies and legs of different people and animals with entertaining results? The Green Man's evening 'Create your own dinner' menu offers diners the intriguing possibility of mixing and matching your 'main', 'side' and 'sauce' with entirely delicious results. The only problem we found was deciding which options to select from the five mains, eight sides and five sauces, which give a total of 200 possible combinations. The specials board also interested us greatly - you don't often see Elephants Ears with Spinach Mash (steak, apparently) on a menu - but this time the main/side/sauce combination proved more appealing. Our deliberations over the menu and the specials board were assisted by the well-kept beer (usually 3 or 4 real ales are available) and we sat back and relaxed in the unusually comfortable contemporary chairs in the deep red dining area. Despite the lure of the wine list, we continued with the beer, as we felt it would be hard to better.

We had chosen well with our starters - the hummus with coriander and chilli was outstanding - cool and smooth with a fresh tang from the coriander and a gentle kick from the chilli. Our main courses were even better - steak cooked to an exemplary medium, served with a well-judged pepper sauce and olive mash, and perfectly pan-fried salmon fillet with a creamy mushroom sauce and new potatoes. Both were accompanied by faultlessly cooked fresh vegetables.

The one small disappointment of our meal came when we tried to order dessert. These were also homemade and all sounded very tempting. We had seen a splendid-looking summer pudding being served to another customer, but alas, it was the last one. The lunchtime customers had enjoyed most of the summer puddings that day. We sampled the white chocolate soup with griottine cherries instead, an unusual but delicious conclusion to the meal.