Kidmore End, International Restaurant Guide

One of the UK’s first wave of modern gastropubs (est. 1989, pipping the Eagle in Farringdon by a couple of years), this Chilterns village boozer serves an “imaginative menu which changes daily” in a “great atmosphere”. But there’s more to it: founder Paul Clerehugh is a former guitarist with 1970s glamrockers The Sweet, and organises “great music nights” in the pub’s heated marquee, attracting an eclectic line-up of performers (George Harrison in the early years; last year, Nigel Kennedy, the Bay City Rollers and Geno Washington).

“Beautiful, quintessential country pub” (the description has barely changed since Jerome K Jerome described it as “the veritable picture of an old country inn” in his 1889 classic ‘Three Men in a Boat’) with a “cosy, relaxed interior” and “reliably good food”. These days the pretty village has a reputation as an A-lister hotspot (George & Amal Clooney, Jimmy Page, Theresa May), but you’re still welcome in the Bull’s bar in a pair of shorts with a dog in tow for some “reliable” traditional fare.