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Eating out - by Joanne Kelly
From the Swindon Advertiser, first published Friday 4th Aug 2000.
ALWAYS left to the last minute, despite deadlines being part of my everyday life, the eating out column loomed.
After much deliberation, my three colleagues and I opted for a pub which has appeared in our own news headlines, The Kings Arms at Monkton Farleigh.
The pub has had a somewhat chequered history, with six landlords in the last 12 months. The locals were becoming unsettled, with at least 60 of them signing an open letter in protest.
But when Nils Hughes arrived back in May it was with the promise that he was staying. Since then, the pub has been tastefully refurbished and gives a warm, medieval-style welcome.
The pub appeared next in the Wiltshire Times headlines when the Monkton Farleigh piglet Ber-tie made a dash for freedom in true Tamworth Two style.
So with all this in mind, we arrived in the scrunching gravel car park with a little trepidation. Our first welcome was from the residents of the pub garden: chickens, lovebirds, a golden pheasant and an awesome eagle owl.
After a screech from the owl, we scurried into the pub. Inside it was furnished in a warm, red and sumptuous style, with a feel of medieval times right down to the silver plates on the restaurant tables and the gold crest on the tissues in the ladies' toilets.
Drinks were the first important matter to decide on, and then the four of us settled back to ponder the menu, the wall tapestries and life in general.
After lots of debate, we chose a New York Caesar salad with chicken and very fat anchovies; steak baguette with mustard mayo, caramelised onions and a mountain of French fries and salad; Bath sausage, beef gravy and horseradish mash, and steak with vegetables and woodland mushrooms.
Only one of us could manage a pudding, and chose cinnamon and ginger creme brulée.
We ate in silence proof of the quality and quantity and we were only momentarily distracted from our dinners by the appearance of a television star.
Clive Mantle, ex-Casualty star, had been enjoying a quiet drink and packet of crisps outside the pub, and he and the question of which other stars drink there became the centre of my attention for most of that evening and for about two days afterwards, much to the horror of colleagues.
Very friendly staff, comfortable pub, great view from the garden, fabulous food and a good time was had by all.
The bill came to just over £60.
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