The Leatherne Bottel is easily accessible from both the M4 and M40 - a really superb location as you'd never know once you venture off the beaten track.

In summer the terrace, overlooking the river and the Berkshire Downs, creates a scented idyll surrounded by flowers and herbs, and during the cooler months, the warming log fire provides a luxurious glow as you enjoy the delights from the kitchen. The dining room has a discreet and friendly service and a relaxed elegance created by river views, vibrant paintings and fresh flowers.

Head chef Julia Storey has a passion for the freshest ingredients with purple orach, pineapple sage, lemon basil and many other herbs and salad leaves growing around the restaurant terrace.

The modern European menu brings vibrant Pacific Rim influences from her years in New Zealand to dishes such as monkfish tail with mussels and fragrant Thai spiced scallions and Szechuan honey-glazed duck with pickled plum and sugar-roasted chicory. Local game, seasonal fresh fish and meat dishes are complemented by a worldwide selection of wines.

The stunning choice of puddings includes baked cheesecake with spiced figs or white chocolate and blackberry parfait alongside home-made sorbets and a discerning array of British cheeses. Freshly baked breads are flavoured with spinach and walnut, tomato and olive and in the spring and summer months, sweet ginger and coriander from the kitchen gardens.

There are additional weekday set dinners and light lunches which change frequently to compliment the seasonally-inspired menu.

The three course set price dinner (£24.50) includes treats such as Cajun spiced chicken liver with watercress leaves and beetroot dressing to start. You could follow this up with soy and sesame salmon fillet on bok choy with one of the aforementioned delicious puddings or cheese board to finish.

The wine list is impressive in respect of its breadth as well as its depth - choose a reasonably priced house white burgundy (Chartron & Trebuchet 2002) at £21.50, or wash that amazing dessert down with the extravagant Chateau d'yquem, Lur Salices, Sauternes 1989 (£190 per half bottle).

Currently undergoing some refurbishment, be amongst the first to sample the tastefully reworked splendour of this little slice of rural England.