Wooburn Common, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

The “lovely location overlooking the Thames” – a spectacular Grade I listed country house dating from 1666, now owned by the National Trust and operated as a Relais & Châteaux hotel – is enough in itself to make any meal a “wonderful experience” here; especially if accompanied by “an interesting walk around the parkland” where historical figures from Queen Victoria to Christine Keeler came for R&R. The dining room occupies a prime site within the property with stunning views, where you can enjoy cuisine that’s “good but not inspirational” considering the “eye-watering” prices.

Former stables have been converted into a “wonderful dining room” for the cheaper eating option in the “amazing setting” of Cliveden, the Astor family’s country pile forever famous for hosting the scandalous 1961 pool party at which war minister John Profumo met showgirl Christine Keeler. “Service is friendly and fun” but the food can seem rather “ordinary” – which is “disappointing given the excellent location” (“the menu has the usual staples such as fish ’n’ chips or burger” plus an array of more ambitious brasserie items, but is “not much better than you would get in a pub”).

Four years down the line, Daniel Crump and Margriet Vandezande-Crump’s “gorgeous” converted seventeenth-century coaching inn is simply “perfection” to the very many diners who comment on it: “not only do you experience fine dining” (an “innovative menu” whose “consistency is something to behold”), “but you get the choice of great beers too, because it’s a pub!” On the food front, “excellent” tasting menus (including dedicated vegetarian and vegan options) are ably abetted by a “brilliant-value set lunch”. Add in “incredible” service and “what more could you want?”

This “great independent cafe recently changed hands when the owner sold it on to the longstanding manager” and, having initially been open just during the day (“very good salads and quiches” plus other South African-slanted breakfasts and brunch dishes and “excellent coffee”), it’s now also back to offering more complex meals at weekend dinners. Insufficient reports for a rating at this time of change.

2023 Review: “Good food at a fair price” was reported again this year at this well-regarded pub: part of a local group with siblings in Gerrards Cross and Beaconsfield. In good weather you can eat on the terrace, or book an ‘Oak Pod’ which seats up to 6 people, and incorporate a heater.

“Worth the drive out” – Chris & Amanda Lillitou’s “quintessential English country pub” has a super-cute village location in the lush Chilterns countryside surrounding Beaconsfield. The cuisine is down-to-earth, but it comes with the spin one might expect from Amanda’s Tante-Claire training: the soup might be Jerusalem artichoke; the fish ’n’ chips may incorporate Newlyn hake and battered cod’s cheek; and a typical pie would feature game with a suet crust.

“After a minor revamp where the butchery emphasis was toned down and the pub feel improved”, this highly rated boozer (“a noisy part of the Kerridge empire”) “now has a great atmosphere”. “The meat is exceptional” too, whether you select your cut from the counter and watch as the chefs grill it, or just pop in for the “superb burgers” (including the in-demand special burger of the month).

“The best of Tom Kerridge’s places” – his no-bookings local in the centre of the town may look “pleasant, if nothing exceptional”, but it is the one the locals head to in preference to any other. “Normally it is difficult to get excited about a soup and a fishcake” but here the “simple but excellent food makes it worth a special journey” and “service is very welcoming and professional”.