King’s Head

Spratton lies north of Northampton, near Brixworth Country Park, from where summer ramblers and winter dog walkers reliably head to the village's only hostelry, the King's Head. It looks highly gentrified now, with the favoured textural contrasts of pillowy upholstery and naked brickwork inside, but staff ensure the place exudes an inspiring level of cheering hospitality. The cooking pulls off the deft trick of applying genuine technical talent to what sound like straightforward classic pub dishes. Beetroot-red houmous might come with house-made flatbread sprinkled in dukkah spices, while calf's liver, seared red-hot to caramelise its surface, is likely to be offset with silky mash, sweet onion confit, something green for colour contrast and crisped-up pancetta for texture. Lemon sole will be lemon-buttered, of course. These are abiding culinary virtues, performed with panache. For afters, it has to be treacle tart with ice cream. Resistance is futile. The well-chosen wine list includes bottles from the Merry Tom vineyard just up the road, which has connections with the pub; also check out the locally distilled Warner's gin.