Country pub of the week: The Fox and Duck, Therfield

What makes Therfield a village? Choices are limited: it’s down to the church, or this place. The Fox & Duck must surely have it by a whisker — the church is grander, but attendance is far higher here. The pub sits on the village green, dotted with picnic benches.

Built in the late 1800s, a boozer has been here since the 1700s, surviving the Second World War by trading as a hotel, when it served drinks around the clock to calm the nerves of those passing by.

Today, it is a handsome spot for decent pub food — fish ’n’ chips, pies, but also things like rabbit and venison — one where neighbours come and sink pints and schooners of white wine on the grass as the sun cloaks itself in night. Inside, dogs lie at their owners feet, each exhausted from the long country walk it takes to get here.

The Green, Therfield, Herts, thefoxandduck.co.uk