Good stuff! Set in a former curry house converted into a ‘perfect’ pub with rooms, in a charming Wiltshire village

If you know the name Jethro Tull, you probably associate it with a rock band. But centuries before the group started in the 1960s, the agricultural pioneer whose name they appropriated had invented the horse hoe, having already perfected the horse seeder.

You can admire the exterior of Tull’s farm called Prosperous on the Four Farm Walk from the charming Wiltshire village of Ham, a two-hour drive across farmland that will work up quite an appetite for dinner.

Fortunately, there is a great place for dinner thanks to two local couples who bought the former local curry house and transformed it into the perfect village pub in 2019.

“The village urgently needed a centre,” says Clemy Sheffield, one of the owners. “We wanted a bar that everyone could be proud of.”

Jane describes the inn, which opened in 2019, as “the perfect village pub”.

The food served in the inn’s dining room is “fantastic”, says Jane

There is certainly much to be proud of in this friendly place, where local farmers and villagers share the bar with overnight guests. It’s full of atmosphere, with all the elements of a traditional pub – flagstone floor, wooden furniture, log fire – and some comfortable modern additions, from the sofa in the main bar to Martin Parr paintings in the toilets.

A framed version of the dice game that gave the bar its name hangs on the wall along with butter dishes and hunting photos. Clemy, an art dealer, designed the interior himself, with wood paneling from Beatrix Potter’s Lake District home in the bar, folding chairs and comfortable benches in the dining room.

This is where the bar plays its trump card: the food is delicious.

The small menu offers traditional classics done very well, such as juicy beef burgers with a tower of fries. But there are also delicious unusual dishes – I can especially recommend the torched salmon with Hispi cabbage and king prawn spring rolls as a starter, followed by celery schnitzel with truffle sauce.

If you have room (and you’ve definitely worked up the calories by walking), finish off with the dark chocolate cremeux with malt ice cream and honey cake.

Clemy Sheffield, an art dealer who is one of the owners, designed the interiors of both the Crown and Anchor

According to Jane, the inn serves both traditional classics beautifully prepared as well as wonderfully unusual dishes. Pictured is the Partridge Dining Room which is used for private events

One of eight simple bedrooms where antique desks meet modern fabric headboards

B&B rooms at the Crown and Anchor start from £130 per night

Wash it all down with some of the good value wine list, Ham 1840 beer brewed exclusively for the pub, or an English sparkling Winding Wood from a nearby vineyard.

When it’s time to sleep, the eight simple bedrooms are as thoughtfully designed as the public areas.

Antique desks go hand-in-hand with contemporary fabric headboards, and some rooms have exposed beams.

The noise of the merry gamblers in the bar continues for some of them, but it subsides in the evening – the farming community in Ham goes to bed early.

As a nod to this rural heritage, each room is named after one of the local farms.

And yes, there is a Prosperous, in green and maroon fabric with antique furniture. I think Jethro Tull would have agreed.