The Colliers Arms, Bewdley

When I was a child there was this one place I really wanted to visit. Monte Carlo, Florida and the Seychelles all had their place, but they held little appeal to the young Insider. No, the place I really wanted to go to was Towyn.

It was the flower beds, you see. Even after all these years, I can see the postcard pictures now. Printed in glorious full colour, bright red and green, Towyn seemed the most exciting place in the world, until I finally did achieve my dream, about 30 years later. And then, to tell the truth, it didn't really lived up to those unrealistically high expectations. It was all right, but on the whole I think I prefer Aberdovey.

Now you are probably wondering what any of this has got to do with eating out in North Worcestershire. The answer, in all honesty, is very little. Except for one point: never underestimate the powers of flowers.

And on that basis, this Colliers Arms must be very powerful indeed. Put it this way, it really doesn't need a sign. The glorious blooms mean you are unlikely to miss it. It has not gone unnoticed by the organisers of Bewdley in Bloom, either, having won first prize in the window box and vegetable garden categories, and second prize for the best flower tub.

Not that this was the only reason why I was expecting big things of the Colliers Arms. The pub, on a busy country road about five miles from the centre of Bewdley, certainly does not lack pedigree. Recommended by the Michelin Eating out in Pubs Guide 2009, the Michelin Hotel & Restaurant Guide 2009, The AA 2009 Pub Guide, The AA Family Pubs In Britain 2009 book, the Campaign for Real Ale Good Beer Guide 2009, and Alastair Sawday's Special Places Pubs & Inns 2009.

More importantly, Express & Star reader Emily Darby suggested it would be worth a try, offering excellent service and top-notch food, all at reasonable prices. About time I found out about what I have been missing then.

Since 2007 the Colliers has been run by Mike Claydon, a man who looks much younger than his 15 years in the hospitality trade suggest, and takes a refreshingly hands-on approach to management.

There is a good-sized level car park, although it has those, angled, parallelogram-shaped spaces, which are superb if you have got a parallelogram-shaped car, but not much cop for the rest of us.

The restaurant area is a large, spacious room with huge patio doors providing a view across the gardens and surrounding countryside. It is attractively furnished, in a relaxing, understated type of way, with large round tables and comfortable velour-backed chairs giving a quality feel, without being cliched. But on the Friday night of our visit, we were the only people booked to dine in it, and we thought that might be a bit too relaxing, and decided to have our meal in the bar.

Not that the bar is a bad place to be at all. There is a similar light green carpet to the one in the restaurant, and a huge clock of the sort you might more normally expect to see in the school hall dominates wall at the front. There are a couple of neat little alcoves, and the three-sided bar has a sofa on one side for those wanting a relaxing drink, and three eye-catching stools lined up on its opposite face. All in all, it strikes a good balance between being interesting without feeling cluttered or ostentatious. A young family - parents, teenage children and a young boy - were tucking in around the circular table in the bay window, while a middle-aged couple and an elderly man were having a leisurely meal behind us. A young couple perched on the bar stools when we arrived later retired to a quiet spot by the window.

Great emphasis is placed on local produce. A huge range of vegetables are grown in the pub's own garden, the meat is also locally sourced. The Hobson's ales on offer are brewed just up the road at Cleobury Mortimer, there are even wines from a vineyard in Stourport. Ideally I would like to have tried one of the locally made wines, but I couldn't really manage a whole bottle, so I contented myself with a very agreeable pint of Hobson's Best, the West Midlands Beer of the Year 2007.

There is a choice of six main courses on offer, supplemented by a pretty large specials board. It is mainly traditional pub food, but of a kind which allows the chef to bring out his personal style, for example the cutlet of pork with roasted apples and Shropshire blue cheese.

Considering it was all freshly made and locally sourced, the prices were very reasonable, although I do think £14.95 is a bit steep for a rump steak. So guess what I went for then? The menu said that all main courses took approximately 25 minutes when not ordering a starter, and the food came comfortably within that time - the huge clock told me so.

This is something other restaurants could learn from: good food takes time to prepare, and is worth the wait, but it is only good manners to tell people how long that wait will be - and keep to it.

There was no faulting the quality of the steak, which was much better than the usual rump cut, and came in a good home-made sauce, although I still think the pricing was a bit ambitious. The chips were glorious though, crisp and golden on the outside, beautifully soft and fluffy on the inside. Hand cut, and no doubt made from potatoes grown in the vegetable garden, they are available as a side order for £2, and I would say whatever you go for, make sure you try these, if only to gaze longingly at them. My dining partner, who had fish with her chips, was in agreement.

For afters, I went for the chocolate brownie with ice cream, enjoyable and very good value at £3.95.

And how often do you get a warm, tingly feeling inside when you are presented with the bill? Given the standard of the experience, I had been bracing myself for a bill somewhere around the £50 mark, so imagine how impressed I was when it came to just £35.45.

In fact, I think its owners can now ditch all those Michelin and Camra guides, they really don't need them. The Colliers has now won The Insider's seal of approval. And accolades don't come any bigger than that.

The Colliers Arms, Tenbury Road, Bewdley, DY14 9HA

Phone: 01299 832242

Starters

Sauteed calf's liver and potato rosti with fig vinaigrette £4.95

Wild mushroom and goat's cheese tart £5.25

Smoked chicken, apple, celery and walnut salad £4.75

Vegetable a la Greque £4.50

Main courses

Local venison sausage with roasted root vegetables and pan gravy £9.95

Poached haddock with spicy vegetable and lentil broth £8.95

Chicken bonne femme £10.50

Cutlet of pork with roasted apples and Shropshire blue cheese £9.50

Potato gnocchi with sun dried tomatoes, red onion and mozzarella £8.50