A while back someone told me they'd had a good meal at a pub with rooms called The Pear Tree in Wiltshire. Unfortunately they couldn't remember where in Wiltshire.
A few months later The Pear Tree crops up again - this time with an address. It is one of 15 new entries to the Trencherman's Guide, a useful source of places to eat above-average food in the south-western counties of England. The 2007 edition has launched this week. No wonder The Pear Tree has been included - head chef Kevin Chandler has come via London stints at Gordon Ramsay's Maze and the acclaimed Galvin Bistrot de Luxe on Baker Street. It also has an interest in a local farm shop on the Neston Park estate which has jersey and aberdeen angus cattle, saddleback pigs, game and organically grown cereals.
Clearly it's time to pay a visit.
It's mid-afternoon and the flagstoned bar is deserted, but a fire crackles in the grate and I've only just negotiated my way around scrubbed wooden tables to the bar when owner Martin Still appears, grabs my bag and leads me through the restaurant and out into a courtyard garden where several outbuildings have been converted into neat, modern rooms using pale natural colours, rough stone and reclaimed oak. Very nice.
In summer, you can sit outside at your own little table and watch the birds in the unexpectedly large garden which wraps two sides of the building and is joyfully undisturbed by garish plastic climbing clutter for children.
There are four more rooms in the main house, Martin tells me. "Can I have a gander?" I ask. Back through the restaurant - an inviting mixture of wooden sewing tables, wonky standard lamps, old prints and his grandfather's collection of cider jars - and up a flight of stairs. Ooh, here's a room with a window seat. I just fancy idling away an hour on that with a book. Can I swap rooms? "Course you can," says Martin, and strides off to fetch my bag.
I settle in with a paperback and a cup of tea, and before I know it the light has faded and it's time to scoot downstairs to bag a table in the bar and order a glass of Moles beer. Beautiful oak stools have been made, apparently, by a man called Bill who lives next door. It's very civilised in here. If this were my local I'd be quite smug.
In the restaurant, the menu is meaty and local, though of course there are fish and veggie options. I try wild boar for the first time. It's a meaty bridge too far, but the roast parsnips, parsnip mash and pan haggerty - a sort of potato dauphinoise done in the pan - are divine as is the sticky red wine reduction. So there's room for pudding - a twist on rhubarb crumble which comes in a glass dish, chilled with a light custard.
I tumble out of my Frette-sheeted bed next morning. Breakfast's laid out in a sunlit extension to the restaurant, overlooking the garden. Good Morning! says the menu. After fresh OJ, stewed spicy apricots, rhubarb and poached pears I'm inclined to agree, and take my time spreading delicious Seville orange marmalade on toasted home-made bread while daffodils gently sway in the breeze outside.
· Top Lane, Whitley, Wiltshire (01225 709131, thepeartreeinn.com). Doubles pounds 105 per night B&B. Dinner around pounds 20.45 for two courses excluding drinks. For a copy of the 2007 Trencherman's Guide, text 88010 with the word FOOD followed by your name and address. Texts cost £1 plus your standard network charge (to cover P&P). Further information at indulgesouthwest.co.uk.
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