The Carnarvon Arms

The staff were friendly, and we enjoyed a very nice dinner. This is a great base for Highclere castle, just a two-minute drive away. Our room was cold when we arrived because there’s no thermostat, just a valve on the radiator. I turned it up too far and woke in the night feeling like I was in an oven.

Highclere Castle, the reason for my visit, was only five minutes away and was amazing. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful, and the food was well cooked. Everything was clean and comfortable too. The one downside was the traffic from the A34 rat run, which made it noisy late on Saturday and very early Sunday.

We use this place as a convenient halfway meeting spot with a couple of work colleagues, usually for lunch and a discussion. The staff are always lovely, the food is pretty good, and prices are reasonable. I’m vegetarian and my colleagues are vegan. There isn’t a huge amount of choice for us, but there’s enough and what we had was good.

Lunch with a friend went down really well. I had fish and chips, while my colleague chose two starters, including a Scotch Egg. We also had a couple of Guinness, kept excellently, followed by coffee. The fish batter was superb and the food was excellent; the bill seemed fair once we’d finished. Two ladies looked after us well. This pub delivered, and I was happy to leave a review when asked because we really enjoyed our stop.