The Royal Oak Hotel on a dark, wet night in July 1998

This 13th-century inn is easy to find if your driving through Lostwithiel on the A390, it's just off the main road up the hill away from the centre of town. Known for its good food as well as its beer and warm welcome. There's a flagstone floored public bar as well as a very comfortable lounge. You'll also find some seating outside. I've stopped here several times when travelling further west into deepest Cornwall and have been very impressed with the range of food available. They try to source as much as possible from local suppliers. Great fish, excellent pork and a nice piece of Cornish Yarg cheese. They've up to around half a dozen well-kept real ales on offer at any one time with an emphasis on local brewss I'm certainly always one to bias my choice of pubs to those that source their ale and produce locally. They've also a particularly good collection of bottle conditioned beers from Cornwall and further afield. The pub is also located close to Restormal Castle and the Eden Project , both of which are well worth visiting. Allegedly there's a short cut to the castle dungeons via a tunnel that runs from the pub cellar! Having walked up to Restormal Castle it must have been a very long tunnel!

Sheila, Terry, AJ and I just about to
kayak down the Fowey from Lostwitiel, July 2006