The landlord was putting up his hanging baskets when we arrived at The Fox in Great Barrington. It's where Giffords Circus is decamping later this summer and its riverside location sounded particularly appealing for an early summer lunch.

On arrival, sweeping through the beautiful village near Burford, we were encouraged by the large car park and sloping lawns, marred slightly by a skip full of rubbish spoiling the views.

The manicured lawns framing the river further enhanced it's appeal until we passed a derelict barn rammed full of party paraphernalia and some abandoned food heaters.

Down by the river there was a ramshackle collection of tables, and a verandah full of old high chairs and stuff under a tarpaulin. Leading through to the bar, quite a journey, we finally arrived at the front of what is obviously a good old fashioned proper pub.

The menus were laminated,but confusing because although fairly ordinary, the prices were not. £21 for the lamb knuckle, £14 for the fish pie, £15 for the curry, scampi £14.95. Perhaps the money had been spent on the chefs rather than the upkeep.

We ordered at the bar; the fish pie, the pulled beef burger, the veggie lasagne, and two starters - the filo parcels and some of the garlic mushrooms with dipping bread- and sat back and waited for our sumptuous feast to arrive while supping on some of the local apple with gooseberry juice.

We'd asked for it all to arrive together but as soon as the food appeared we realised, with sinking hearts, we had got totally the wrong impression. It was pub grub after all, just ridiculously expensive. Everything came with yellow chips and a dry salad of lettuce and grated carrot dotted with balsamic. Not a good start, not what we were expecting.

The mushrooms came in a tiny ramekin and looked like something out of a 1970's Good Housekeeping magazine. I was expecting a big bowl of juicy, chunky mushrooms in a rich, dark herby sauce with hunks of granary bread and butter. What arrived was archaic and nasty, the sauce far too creamy and flavourless, the portion tiny, the price a jaw-dropping £7.50.

The filo parcels came with a good tomato chutney but their leek and mushroom insides were nebulous and slimy and entirely lacking the goats cheese they advertised. Price wise, a cracking £7.95, and served wit the same dry salad.

The £13.95 burger ( the neighbouring table left theirs uneaten) chosen by my hungry teen was so strongly flavoured he couldn't really taste the meat. My mother, who is much nicer than me, said the fish pie was fine, but certainly not gourmet, served of course with chips and salad in a tiny square ramekin for £14.95.

But then the piece de resistence, the veggie lasagne which my oldest son ordered (£13.95) which was prodded for a while before he said: 'I don't think this is veggie' and took it to the bar, and then the kitchen, to ask. Five minutes later a harassed looking chef emerged to say they had made a mistake and it had been made it in the wrong shaped ramekin and yes it was the meat version.

For people that don't eat meat that's a cardinal sin and one that shouldn't happen EVER. The real veggie lasagne arrived a few minutes later the cheese soggy on top, looking entirely different to its carnivorous counterpart. There was no mistaking the two. The next door table then received it's lunch - a giant ploughmans, at an almost acceptable £10.95 price - which emerged with great hunks of Brie, some lovely looking bread and salad, pickles, beetroot. I had massive food envy. This is the dish to order then.

Pudding was a predictable mix of waffles, sticky toffee pudding, banoffee pie. Ice cream came in tubs.

And as the landlord's hanging basket broke off the wall and sailed off down the river my mother looked round and said: "I think it's going to take more than a few hanging baskets to turn this place around. What they need is to decide what kind of pub they want to be because at the moment it's unclear." As usual she was right.

The Fox Inn

Great Barrington

Oxfordshire

OX18 4TB

Tel: 01451 844385

www.foxinnbarrington.com