This is one of my favourite pubs. It is situated next to the National Trust property of Knole Park in Sevenoaks. My wife I often walk here across the Park on a Saturday for lunch when the pub is not so crowded. You have to book on a Sunday.
The pub has a number of qualities which we both like. It has welcoming hosts and bar staff who treat you as friends rather than customers. The drinkers are a convivial mixture of local people and visitors of all ages. We have never met anyone who has been drunk, boring or aggressive. The food, drink and service are excellent.There is no intrusive music or the clanging of one armed bandits. There is also a garden at the rear and a patio at the front.
It is a good place for family and friends to meet and just talk to one another.
I am a lover of Shepherd Neame cask conditioned beers. Last weekend I tried Kent's Best Bitter Invicta.
The beer, like all the others here, was in perfect condition. The Landlord certainly knows how to look after it and it was served at the perfect temperature.
The ale was a crystal clear amber colour. It smelt fresh and clean. The taste was very similar to the nose: hops, nuts, fruit and the savoury taste of yeast and malt. Any sweetness was well balanced by the bitterness typical of this type of beer. The beer is perfectly described by a beer expert on the website below.
We dined on wild rabbit casserole sourced from the Weald of Kent. I have not eaten wild rabbit for a very long time. It was delicious and well flavoured and spiced with bacon, wine , tomatoes and cloves. It tasted as if my wife or her sister had cooked it at home. We had eaten farmed rabbit in France the previous weekend. A wild rabbit, of course, tastes stronger and a little bit more of game.
The food did not have Michelin Star presentation but what does that matter, it deserved many a star for taste.
You may be asking why didn't I drink wine with it? Well, I do not get the opportunity to drink such well kept beer so often. The beer went really well with the rabbit. It is the beer equivalent of a Grand Cru Bourgogne wine but at a price which is in the lower atmosphere. What more could I ask for? So it's three cheers for the Bucks Head.
http://www.shepherdneame.co.uk/pubs/sevenoaks/bucks-head
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