Herefordshire CAMRA only gives out four awards a year and the CAMRA pub of the season for summer 2017 is the Hostelrie at Goodrich, near Ross-on-Wye.

Mark Haslam, CAMRA Public Affairs Officer, presented the award and paid tribute to the Hostelrie and all they had achieved, from the food, to the beer and the ambiance at the bar.

The landlord, Ayrton Lowther, said that he was very proud of the name and reputation of the Hostelrie, that his team of six worked well together to manage and run the pub and the hotel business.

He bought the pub four years ago and despite never running a pub before has made an amazing success of the business. The kitchen has been doubled in size to enable the chefs to produce delicious food, all from local produce (everything they serve is from HR9 apart from the fish), and it’s current popularity speaks volumes.

With its Gothic turrets and towers, from the outside you might wonder what this building is, but on the inside it’s undoubtably a British pub. Though the style of the exterior feels much older, it was rebuilt like this in the 1830s when the owner wanted to match the style of Goodrich Court.

Ayton visited the pub with his grandparents as a youngster which was when the seed was set, he loved the quirky feeling of the building, bar and hotel and years later was able to return, buy it, and turn it into the successful business it is now.