The Sun Inn Virginia Water

The Sun Inn sits in Virginia Water, a village in the north-west corner of Surrey, close to the Berkshire boundary and the woodland and water that most people associate with the name. It is a pub first and a dining room second, a traditional village local that has been brought up to date rather than gutted and rebranded. That distinction matters when you are deciding where to go. You can drink here without eating, and the ales are kept properly.

The ££ price band is the useful signal. This is not a destination restaurant charging destination prices, nor is it a chain pub trading on cheapness. It sits in the middle: a place you could eat at on a Tuesday without thinking about it, and still feel comfortable bringing visitors to on a Saturday. In a part of Surrey where prices can climb steeply, that middle position is worth noting.

The food is described as seasonal, which means the menu moves through the year. No specific dishes are confirmed here, so check the current offering before you travel if someone in your party is particular. Seasonal kitchens in pubs of this type tend to change more often than printed menus suggest.

Two features shape when the Sun Inn is at its best. There is a garden that catches the sun, which makes it a summer proposition, long lunches, a drink after a walk, tables outside for as long as the weather allows. And there is a fireplace, which makes it a winter one. Those are different pubs in practice. A cold Sunday by the fire and a July afternoon in the garden are both good reasons to come, but for different reasons and different groups.

Before booking: garden tables are rarely reservable in the usual way at village pubs, and on the first warm weekend of the year they go early. If the garden is the point of your visit, arrive at the start of service rather than the middle. For a fireside table in winter, the same logic applies in reverse. Confirm directly rather than assuming.

Who it suits: couples and small groups wanting a decent weeknight dinner, walkers wanting something better than a sandwich, families on a slow Sunday. Less obviously a business lunch venue, though nothing rules it out.

Honestly positioned: a well-run village pub doing seasonal food at fair money, in a village where that is a genuinely useful thing to have.