GOOGLE Kingston Lisle and one of your first results is certain to be Kingston Lisle Park – the 17th century mansion and its sprawling country estate.

Search further and you are sure to stumble across articles about how, in 2011, the colourful owner Jamie Lonsdale fell in love with a stripper 23 years his junior called Crystal then launched a new career as an opera singer (definitely check out his music video).

The other result you will get is for the blowing stone – the legendary sarsen stone in the village which King Alfred supposedly blew like a trumpet to summon his Saxon troops (there's a spectacular video on YouTube of a man in a suit demonstrating this which is also a must-watch).

There there is the pub named after the village's famous rock.

The pub has been through rocky times itself recently: run for years by the popular Angus and Steph Tucker, in 2015 they departed leaving the boozer in the hands of temporary managers.

For four months it shut completely, until the arrival, 18 months ago, of Samuel Plant.

The Wodehousian high jinks of the top set are far from foreign to Mr Plant who, before taking on the Blowing Stone, spent his career working in service as a butler and house manager for a series of 'high net worth' individuals and families.

Sadly, as he welcomes us to the grand opening party for his new pizza oven and Argentinian grill, he refuses to reveal any names, but apart from that Mr Plant is the perfect host: as soon as we arrive into the bustling garden where a DJ plays lively dance music to pump up the gathering throng, he says hello, shows us to our table and asks a waitress to sort out our drinks.

He then talks me through the new pizza oven (made by Pilkingtons of East Hanney) and the the array of Argentinian cooking implements being trialled for the first time tonight.

Throughout the night he regularly stops at all the tables to check how his guests are doing.

The most spectacular-looking cooking on show is three suckling pigs being whole roasted over the traditional parrilla grill.

There is also lamb cooking on a smaller asado grill which is also used to smoke the meat.

For our first course, we queue to fill our plates with a Technicolor smorgasbord of summery salads, involving types of pasta I've never seen before (fregula is one of them), tomatoes, chicory, beetroot and blueberries.

Then, the coup de grace - tender, falling-off-the-bone meat. The whole thing is spectacular-looking and delicious.

About an hour later, we are treated to our second course – a whole freshly-cooked pizza from the Pilkinton oven: it has that great smokey taste you only get from a real pizza oven, and the stringy cheese has to be torn in sticky strings which get absolutely everywhere.

We also enjoy a bottle of French Merlot and a few beers over the course of the evening, as the party gets under way.

Samuel explained at the start of the night how he had a vision for a new type of pub for Kingston Lisle: not the traditional smokey boozer jealously guarded by a cabal of suspicious locals, but not the new breed of snooty gastropub either: Mr Plant, for all his background working for the well-heeled, wants to create a party pub where people can cut loose, let their hair down and have fun.

He certainly achieves that tonight, and who knows – maybe we'll see Jamie Lonsdale down there before long, holding a party to launch his next single and playing the blowing stone.

The Blowing Stone will be serving pizzas on Saturday afternoon from 12pm to 5pm and Sunday evening from 6pm to 9pm.

Parts of the pub are also available to hire for private events.

theblowingstone.co.uk / 01367 820288