Going back to The Pilgrim Inn at Marchwood for a meal is almost like going home.

Except that the picturesque thatched pub and restaurant, ten minutes from Southampton, has a far greater range of dishes to tempt than my wife and I would ever dream of in our own kitchen.

The Pilgrim Inn is a busy and popular haunt on the edge of the New Forest, and I always feel there is something warming about the atmosphere that I cannot resist.

Proprietor Ron Longman has put it on the tourist map having established it as the place not to be missed on the Waterside. The brown tourist signs from the A326 Totton to Fawley road point the way.

Time was when the Pilgrim was no more than a row of derelict cottages in the vilage and it was solely due to the vision of Ron 23 years ago, then a news cameraman, that the Pilgrim Inn became a reality. It could be that link with the past that now gives it the individual identity and an ambience which is very special, even though it's now a far cry from the time that Ron first took it over.

Or maybe it is the food which helps create the enviable sense of character. The beauty is that you can have the treat of a full-scale menu in a separate restaurant next door or, more than likely, when you need something quickly, you'll find equally appetising choice from the pub menu which will be more than sufficient.

Our evening there last time was meant to be an intimate affair for just the two of us, and we knew the Pilgrim's Progress, as the restaurant is known, would provide just the right taste for us. But we were hungry and arrived too early, before the restaurant was open, so we were more than happy to eat in the pub. Being there early before it is busy always seems a sensible idea anyway. So, favourite for me in the bar of The Pilgrim this summer has been the crab salad from the specials' blackboard, but it's worth trying the speciality gammon hock, a tasty giant of a ham knuckle, accompanied by fresh vegetables, that you could be hard pushed to actually finish. Well, at least the so-called doggy bag we had for what we couldn't manage from the bone last time we were there, provided sufficient meat for yet another meal at home the next day.

Sad part was, we didn't then have the Pilgrim's delightful house red wine to accompany it. Maybe just as well because it is one of the best house wines I have tasted for a long time, and at home I would only be tempted to open a second bottle.

But eating at The Pilgrim for a shade over £21, including the wine, for the two of us, was extremely good value for money, made all the more enjoyable by being able to get away from regular pub fare.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.