Duke of Wellington — Restaurant in England

Family meal out on Saturday 26th October (party of 8). Parking not too bad but dont forget to register your number plate as soon as you go in or you will get a fine. Lovely outside seating areas and nice and clean. The pub has a nice local atmosphere and is warm and receiving. Drink prices a little high for me, one glass of large wine is £9 !! I had a pint and my wife a mailbu and coke was £10. Restaurant area is cosy and the staff are lovely and friendly especially, the young lad with glasses (David?) who went above and beyond and is an asset. Okay the food, starters which we didnt have looked nice, my sister had the Prawns Pil Pil which she said were lovely and spicy. The others had the Scotch egg and all agreed it was yummy and the bacon in the jam was delicious. I ordered the Pie but with Chips and a side of onion rings, my Sister and brother in law had the Pork Belly, and others opted for the Salmon/Gnocchi, and Pie with mash and veg (the veg is non existant - 2 tiny carrots and a green stork). The Pie was superb and my wife said it was the best pie she had eaten. The meat was tender and the sauce was delicious as was the pastry, and the chips were fantastic. The Salmon was tasty but the Gnocchi sadly let it down. The bone of contention was with Desserts, well infact the Cheeseboard. 3 people ordered this and had to complain: at £8.95 you expect a decent selection of cheese not wafer thin cheese, 3 small pieces of celery and 3 white cheese with no Blue cheese?? We did complain and they try to say they mix up the selection but all of a sudden they said they did have blue cheese? The piece of red leicester on the plate was also the size of a matchstick!! Big dish of pickle and lots of wafers but lacking cheese for the price. To be fair to the restaurant they did offer a free drink and one of the main courses taken off the Bill so they were more than fair and the service was excellent. The sticky toffee pudding, with sauce and ice cream was very yummy indeed. The toilets were nice and clean but disabled access may be a problem. The pub was busy and had a very warm welcoming feeling to the place. We will be back to try the Sunday...

We arrived at the car park side of the pub on Saturday 16th August at around 4pm. We walked into the pub accompanied by some really nice groovy music being played by the DJ outside. People were eating/drinking and dancing outside towards the end of the outdoor seating area. A really nice vibe to arrive to. We'd come from a 1.5km/2km swim at Oundle 50m pool, and were therefore plenty ready to eat. Truth be known, I only went for the swim because I had been told about the homemade steak and ale pie!! (Shhhush... keep this to yourself!). Apparently all the food is homemade and guided by a French chef.

So... to the steak and ale pie we go!! Firstly, the bad news, unless you live locally (we hail from Milton Keynes)! You will have a big problem to solve after eating this pie. You will either need to relocate to Stanwick, or stop eating steak and ale pies. It's that simple!

Ah yes! The pie itself! 🥧 Wow! Firstly it was huge! So forget about eating for the next day! The pastry was delicious and the pie was extremely tasty. The meat was to die for, so delicious and tender. The meat would need a dictionary to understand what fat or gristle was! Unlike most other pies the large chuncks of meat just kept on coming and coming. Where was all this meat coming from? It was like a Tardis inside! The mash was delicious too, and perfect with the tenderstem brocoli.

We sat inside and the staff were very friendly. The manager was also attentive and pleasant to talk to.

So in conclusion. If you think that you're good at solving problems. Eat a pie from here and work the rest of your relocation/life...

Perhaps the perfect village pub...

Although I live in the village itself and possibly a little bias, I have to say The Duke is close to the perfect village pub for me. The current owners have done an amazing job at turning around what was (under 3 or 4 previous owners) a tired, dated and poorly run pub, into somewhere with great ambiance, lovely food (including vegan menu for those so inclined), good selection of beers/wines and efficient, friendly and bubbly staff that seem to actually enjoy working there.

We eat there on average once a month. Evenings meals are superb. Sunday Roast gorgeous (and decent portions) and daytime bar meals.snack served quickly and go down a treat.

I wouldn't say I am a "regular" - i.e I don't prop the bar up every night, but it's a nice place to relax with friends and a few beers of an evening.

The Manager is super efficient, very welcoming and you can tell really knows his trade very well. It's a well oiled machine down at The Duke as far as I am concerned.

I wouldn't say the prices are exactly cheap and if you want a cheap pint, then the working mens club is 30 seconds away, but the prices are "fair" and you can tell how much money has been poured into this place to get it right, so I don't mind. More work is currently going into the outdoor area. Covered areas, changes to the patio area etc. Should be nice in the summer!

I'm happy it's a 5 min walk away. For anyone else, it's well worth a drive out for the food or a night...