My favourite pub

My favourite pub is The Fountain Head in Branscombe, Devon.  It's not the best pub I've been in, it's not even the best pub in Devon (that's either the Bridge in Topsham, Drewe Arms in Drewsteignton or Rugglestone near Widecombe), but it is my favourite.

It's got a lot of things going for it that make it a great pub: Located in a beautiful coastal village, plain, unspoilt interior, great local beer, decent, simple food, a roaring log fire in Winter and suntrap terrace with stream in the Summer.  But it needs something more to elevate it to favouritism and that something else is memories.

Our family have been coming to Branscombe on holiday  for donkey's years (excuse the pun - the famous Donkey Sanctuary is just up the road), and it holds very happy memories for us.  It's these memories that make it such a special place for me: Our first holiday together in Branscombe and walking in the pitch black between the Masons Arms and Fountain Head, sitting in front of the fire on my own when the boys were very young and taking Frances a couple of pints of cider home, watching a folk band play on the terrace on a hot, lazy Sunday afternoon session and the girls joining in the dancing with the other young kids on holiday, arriving after a long drive from Kent just before last food orders and tucking into delicious home-made venison faggots.

We've booked a week in February in the cottage next door to the Fountain Head and can't wait to make new memories.  The first pint of Branoc won't touch the sides.