Walking into The Vine Inn’s garden on a sunny Sunday afternoon, you could almost believe it was summer, writes JAMES ROBERTS.

The spacious outdoor area is definitely somewhere you could spend a few hours, but with the weather as it is we hurried inside.

The interior was that of a classic village pub and it was encouraging to see so many tables full when we entered.

We got our drinks and were told by one bartender to order food at the bar, although after waiting at the table for a while another member of staff eventually came over.

Our first starter was the impressively large Yorkshire Pudding (£4), laden with onion gravy.

The gravy was tasty if a bit sweet, while we suspected the Yorkshire was not homemade due to its uniformity.

Starter number two was the ham hock terrine (£5.95), which was gelatinous and lacking a little flavour and arguably a little overpriced.

I went for the Welsh rarebit (£4.50), served on a bed of salad, which was reasonable value for money if nothing special.

Although the service was perfectly polite, once again we faced a longer-than-expected wait for our main courses.

This may have been because we only saw three waiting staff serving food and drink between them.

Onto the mains, and first up was the Vine sausages and mash with seasonal vegetables and gravy (£11.50).

It was pleasing to see vegetarian sausages were an option, although again nothing stood out about this dish.

The main downside was the gravy, which was watery and lacking in volume.

As it was Sunday lunch, it would have been rude if one of us did not have the roast beef (£12.95).

For a generous portion this was very reasonably priced, although we did have to ask for more gravy.

The beef was arguably a little overcooked but it was satisfactory considering the cost, although the stuffing was a little cold.

After deliberating until the last second, I opted for the vine burger – a beef patty in a toasted ciabatta topped with tomato, lettuce, gherkin and cheddar cheese, served with chunky chips (£12.45).

Again, I was content with the portion size to price ratio and it was a perfectly acceptable pub burger.

My choice of chips instead of fries was vindicated, as they were exactly what a good chip should be.

We left feeling satisfied if not amazed, but on a lazy weekend afternoon it did the job.

● The Vine Inn, 11 Abingdon Rd, Cumnor, Oxford OX2 9QN