Birthday celebrations!

Officially the past week has been week 12 of our domestic austerity budget but as one of the household also turned 50 this week, a little relaxation of the rules was allowed. It's not as if we went mad or anything, instead we had a lovely lunch in an award winning country pub on a lovely sunny afternoon. The pub, The Saracen's Head, is hidden away in a pretty little ironstone Northamptonshire village on the doorstep of Althorp House (birth and final resting place of Princess Diana) and has been a finalist in the county's annual awards for the last few years. The pub itself is lovely and retains a lot of the charm lost in those that have recently become 'gastrofied'. All the things you would expect of an English village pub still remained, dodgy prints of hunts slipping tipsily in their frames, properly beer stained tables, beer towels on the bar and sunlight streaming through the randomly mottled glass in the windows. The menu was short and realistic and there were no blackboards of endless 'specials' that have always run out by the time you've finished reading them. It was an easy choice to opt for a steak, cheddar and ale pie which was honestly priced for a lunch time treat. The food which arrived after a short wait, on large and simple white plates was delicious and well proportioned. Lifting the crisp pastry revealed tender chunks of beef in an ale scented and deeply savoury gravy, served with boiled new potatoes and a handful of Savoy, leek and mange tout. Our plates were practically licked clean.

We opted for dessert (it was a birthday lunch after all) and chose a citrus treacle tart with double cream (custard was also available) and a summer fruit semifreddo with an espresso. Again, neither disappointed. The tart was deceptively light and sat in it's own little pond of cream, the semifreddo attractively contrasting it's soft pinky marbling against the dark slate it sat upon.

As well as the very realistic price for the entire meal (£44 inclusive of two pints of Guinness, two lager shandies and one extra espresso), the other most charming aspect of the whole experience and one that is often forgotten was the service; discreet, polite, allowing the right amount of time to choose, to digest and to consider. Recommended? Oh yes, but I'd quite like to keep the place my own little secret.