THINKING it was likely to be much the same as any other Greene King-owned pub I set my expectations for the Horse and Jockey low, so it was a pleasant surprise walking in the door and seeing a charming historic interior with exposed wooden beams and places laid tastefully for dinner.

Locals propped up the bar and a waitress showed us straight to our table.

We were actually sat right on the point where the original 600-year-old wooden beams gave way to the obviously new beams that were installed after a massive fire practically destroyed the pub in July 2013.

Although they were new, they'd been done sympathetically so it made for a fun, quirky feature.

Turning to the menu, there was traditional pub grub with a few modern twists such as a crab macaroni cheese.

Feeling in the mood for some comfort food we started with a hearty Camembert for two, baked with rosemary and garlic and served with warm ciabatta and red onion marmalade (£11.50).

Anyone who loves this dish will know it's hard to go wrong with, but it was a testament to how ravenously we devoured it that at one point I bit into something hard and had to spit it out instantly realising that I'd shoved a whole garlic clove in my mouth.

We also ordered a bowl of enigmatic-sounding curried parsnip chips (£2) which we quickly demolished.

For a main course I went for more comfort food - wild mushroom tagliatelle 'in a creamy white wine sauce topped with cheese' (£11.50).

After such stand-out starters I was a surprised by the lack of seasoning on this dish.

I don't normally add salt in restaurants, but I ended up reaching for both cellars several times.

Apart from that it was well cooked and the mushrooms were tender and sweet.

I thought at that point I was done, but when we were handed the dessert menu, I just knew instantly it was my sort of dessert menu.

I was tempted by fruit crumble and sticky toffee pudding, but more enticing than either of those was the promise of homemade ice creams in about ten different flavours served with homemade fudge!

I couldn't resist and dived in for a scoop of butterscotch and a scoop of mint choc chip.

These arrived dusted with icing sugar, two sorts of fudge and a decorative sugar spear plunged into one scoop.

The flavours were a little odd, especially the spearmint-tasting mint, but not enough to stop me cleaning the plate. We will be back.

The Horse and Jockey. 01367 710302.