The Phillips family has been at the helm for 25 years and Henry is an innkeeper with humour. As for the inn, having begun its life in the 14th century, it rambles charmingly inside as well as out. Enter a world of blazing log fires, soft brick walls, oak panelling and quarry-tiled floors. Dried flowers hang from beams, herbs sit in vases, and blackboard menus trumpet Hundred House fish pie, roast rack of Shropshire lamb and double chocolate mousse with orange anglaise. You are surrounded by Sylvia’s wild and wonderful collage art hanging on the walls, and the fun continues in riotously patterned and floral bedrooms upstairs. Just go easy on the ale before you open the door: some have a swing hanging from the oak beams with a vibrant velvet seat. Lounge on antique beds – large, comfortable and wrapped in lavender-scented sheets. Wander out with a pint from the Ironbridge Brewery and share a quiet moment with a few stone lions in the beautiful garden, a flight of fancy full of herbaceous plants and over a hundred herbs – a summer treat. You can tie the knot in the restored Tithe Barn.
Having been startled, enchanted and deeply impressed by the pub's extraordinary garden, we sailed back into the Hundred House in the best possible mood for dinner. Across the room from us was a small party of mature hedonists, so the room was filled with good humour from the start. When our lovely waitress, Netty, arrived she added a welcome touch of old-fashioned kindness and courtesy. Our food was delicious, a wide-ranging mix of choices served with a keen eye for aesthetics. The pub richly deserves its place in Sawday's, not least for the overall sense of warmth one feels upon entering.