The pub of their dreams

1:05pm Wednesday 8th June 2005

Fancy running a little country pub? Nigel and Sam Byatt did, and they found The Swan at Ley Hill says Sandra Carter.

AH, the dream. Turn your back on the daily commute and open a sweet little bar and restaurant in the countryside, pulling pints, chatting to the locals, and serving up beautiful cuisine with a log fire roaring in the inglenook.

For Nigel Byatt, the dream came true in April when he and his wife Sam took over The Swan at Ley Hill near Chesham.

Nigel says: "Id spent 12 years in market research, commuting each day, and always fancied running a bar restaurant operation.

"We were living in High Wycombe and looked at what was available nearby. The Swan was the first we looked at and we fell in love with it. We looked at 20 others, but came back here. It has such character."

It certainly does. It's as quaint a rural pub as you could hope to find, complete with nooks and old fireplaces. Nigel refurbished the restaurant which lies beyond the bars, but used old pub fittings that are true to the character of this 1520s building.

It faces Ley Hill common and has a pretty garden at the back, and rather bizarrely, is right next door to another pub, The Crown.

The two have a good relationship, he adds, because The Crown attracts a young crowd with entertainment, while The Swan goes for the more serious and leisurely pursuits of a quiet pint and a good meal.

Which brings us to the kitchen, where Nelson Linhares reigns. Nelson is Portuguese, has worked for years in good restaurants in Bucks, and has put together a diverse menu which has something for most tastes and wallet sizes.

There are a la carte and bar menus, but I called in one lunchtime to try the set menu, which costs £9.95 for two courses, £12.50 for three.

Bearing in mind you get home made bread with virgin olive oil and tapenade to nibble, freshly prepared food and wonderful home made desserts, that's a very fair price. It's also available in the evening from Monday to Thursday.

I passed on the starters (soup, Cajun whitebait, baked brie in filo or duck liver parfait with cherry and port compote) and went straight to the mains. There was a veggie dish, a pasta, calves liver and mash or my choice seared fillet of smoked haddock on spinach with poached egg and grain mustard sauce. The fish was beautifully cooked, and the sauce perfectly balanced. Lovely.

Nelson's desserts are already wowing the punters, apparently. Imagine white and dark chocolate truffle cake with vanilla and ginger ice cream, or raspberry and white choc cheesecake ... I chose orange and lemon tart with meringue and lemon sorbet, which looked fabulous and tasted superb.

So will The Swan become a destination restaurant for south Bucks? Only time will tell, but it's certainly starting off with the right idea.

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