Eat My Words: We review The Chequers Inn in Woolsthorpe-by-Belvoir

In the shadow of Belvoir Castle, The Chequers at Woolsthorpe-by-Belvoir combines traditional charm with inventive cooking, writes Jenny Harby.

With a warm welcome and a garden to savour on sunny days, it’s the kind of pub every village hopes to keep.

Our tummies are rumbling in anticipation as we step over the threshold into a world of exposed stone, candlelit rooms and traditional country prints.

We feel genuinely lucky to have a pub like The Chequers on our doorstep. So many village pubs in this area have closed in recent years – sometimes not to reopen – and even the beloved Dirty Duck, the Chequers’ near neighbour, has had its ups and downs.

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Thankfully The Duck is now open again and in fine quack, but throughout all this The Chequers, an old 17th-Century farmhouse-turned-pub which enjoys a prime Vale of Belvoir position in the shadow of the castle, has kept ticking on.

That it’s done so seems to rest on sound business sense and a knack for pleasing all-comers – the bar was packed with locals supping pints, the dining rooms busy with guests and, in a function room, an excited bride was inspecting tables.

The pub hosts many weddings, thanks to its picturesque charms and enviable setting, and the sight brought back fond memories for us as we were there to mark our 11th wedding anniversary.

The Chequers also boasts beautiful gardens with well-stocked borders – a lovely place to sit on a summer’s evening – but on a chill autumn night we preferred the cosy bar and dining areas for our meal.

The extensions maintain the traditional feel of the old building with parquet floors, large fireplaces and a welcoming warmth.

The menu sits at the slightly dearer end of mid-range, with mains from £15.50 for bangers and mash to £38 for rib-eye and chips.

There’s a good spread of pub classics alongside more adventurous dishes, though a little repetition of ingredients – if you’re a non-meat eater who’s not keen on sweetcorn, you might struggle, as both vegan dishes featured it on the night we visited.

I settled on the market fish dish, which that evening was salmon, with hollandaise and fresh vegetables – cavolo nero, tenderstem broccoli, fine beans and new potatoes.

It was simply done – perhaps not the most memorable plate but very tasty, the hollandaise light, plentiful and frothy rather than the heavy, eggy kind it can so easily be.

Our junior reviewer chose fish and chips from the children’s menu and was rewarded with a hearty plate of skin-on fries, flaky cod in crisp batter and a pot of peas. He cleared the lot – peas included – which is no small achievement.

While we’d both gone for fairly safe options, my husband’s dish stole the show for originality. Picture this on a plate, if you can: espresso-marinated pork fillet with pancetta rösti, date ketchup, carrots and cavolo nero.

“I’ve never had anything like it,” he said – and somehow, by dint of the chef’s alchemy, it all worked. The ketchup was more of a light, fruity jus, the pork subtly flavoured and just pink in the middle, the vegetables soft and delicate.

The rösti was a dense, flavourful cake with the potato and pancetta cooked together, not as separate layers. It was beautifully judged – inventive but comforting, and quite a treat.

The mains were perfectly sized to leave room for pudding, which seemed too good an opportunity to miss.

“If you have a chocolate brownie, I can have sticky toffee – deal?” came the negotiations from across the table. Our young diner’s brownie, available only on the children’s menu, had a gooey centre, biscuit crumble on top and a scoop of salted caramel ice cream on the side – “delicious”, he declared.

The sticky toffee pudding was a heroic portion, swimming in a dish of toffee sauce the size of Rutland Water, but the duo rose to the challenge and emerged victorious, spoons clinking against the empty dish.

I opted for a dark chocolate orange torte with mango sorbet – the torte rich and indulgent, topped with a thin strip of orange jelly, the mango heavenly and refreshing, though perhaps not the most harmonious pairing overall.

Throughout the evening, service was friendly and attentive – enough space to chat and digest, never enough to feel forgotten.

At the bar, there was a strong line-up, too: an extensive range of lagers, a Camden Hells for my husband, and ales from Timothy Taylor’s alongside a local Harvest Pale from Nottingham’s Castle Rock Brewery.

As we stepped out into the starry night, the warm bustle of the building behind us left us with a sense of fondness – that places like this, with their genuine welcome and timeless charm, still thrive in our villages.

Proof, perhaps, that a good marriage and a good pub both depend on the right mix of warmth, patience and tricky negotiations over puddings.

Out of five:

Food: Everything was tasty, well-cooked and perfectly portioned. Seasonal ingredients were used imaginatively, though it might be worth varying things more for vegans and vegetarians. ****

Drink: Good range of beverages at the bar and – although we didn’t sample them this time – some enticing-looking dessert cocktails. There could be a return trip on the cards to put that right. ****

Decor: In autumn and winter, it’s all variations on a theme of cosy – candlelight, stone and log fires – while, in the summer, that garden is stunning. You can see why so many couples opt to tie the knot here. *****

Staff: Friendly, welcoming and professional – the perfect balance between noticing when your glass needed a top-up without making you feel rushed. ****

Price: We paid £84.90 for two adult mains and desserts, a children’s main and dessert, and four drinks ****

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