On Sunday, 15th April The Village Inn in Caterham-on-the- Hill relaunched its restaurant with a fabulous new Sunday carvery and A La Carte menu. During the course of the day over 160 people dined in the restaurant, including myself and some family and friends.

When we arrived at 2pm the restaurant and spacious bar was full of families enjoying the occasion while Steve Kirk, the owner and the rest of his team bustled around making sure everyone was having a good time.

The food was perfect. "Ten out of ten," and "The best carvery I have ever had," were two of the compliments flying around our table as we tucked in to our steaming-hot roasts. Our plates were filled with roast pork, turkey and beef with all the trimmings and our choices from a selection of ten different vegetables. All the food at The Village Inn is 100% freshly prepared and cooked, from the veges to the Yorkshire puddings and the stuffing - nothing had been cooked from frozen. There is no doubt you can tell the difference, the food was superb. And we could pop back for more vegetables if we wanted to - not bad for under £10!

We could not resist the tempting choice of desserts and between us we had the Homemade Pecan Pie, Homemade Profiteroles, Eton Mess, Ice Cream Trio and Homemade Apple Crumble and everyone thoroughly enjoyed their choice. Throughout the meal the service was excellent.

My mother is always on the lookout for new venues to visit with her lunch club so I revisited the restaurant a few days later so we could try out the A La Carte menu.

The food was of a very high standard, cooked by the restaurant's top chef and beautifully presented. I started with the Prawn and Smoked Salmon Cocktail and Mum had the Baked Camembert with Apple and Walnuts which she said was "lovely and soft and runny and nice to have the crispy nuts against the soft cheese".

For our main course we had a choice of traditional home cooked Main Dishes, Steaks and Grills, Salad Platters and Vegetarian. Mum opted for the Grilled Chicken and Bacon Salad and I had one of the Main Dishes, the Beef Wellington.

I was surprised to be asked how I like my beef and when it was served the beef was medium rare, just how I like it and beautifully tender. It was enclosed in a delicate lattice of pastry with a wonderful red wine and raspberry sauce and served with vegetables and chips.

Steve and his new business partners, John, Janine and Simon have been working hard to seriously address the issues arising out of the Friday and Saturday late-night opening until 2am. Since April the pub has been closing two hours earlier, at midnight instead of 2am which has made a great improvement. From 1st May the pub will be for over 21s only after 6pm, a rule that will be strictly enforced. Families with children will still be warmly welcomed to the restaurant.

Why not pop along and see the difference for yourself? The new Village Inn is set to become a great local hot spot for families.

For more information and to view the menus, go to www.thevillageinn-caterham.co.uk.