The high profile enjoyed by the Kingham Plough – where Emily Watkins, a one-time Fat Duck colleague of Heston Blumenthal’s, tickles the tastebuds of discerning customers – has tended to overshadow the achievements of the other pub in a village once voted the favourite in England by readers of Country Life magazine. I confess that I was unaware of how good The Tollgate is – or even of its existence – until last week. Now I am delighted to sing the praises of a place that has been admired by locals for a long time. It has, after all, been run in the same style for four years by owners Paul and Annie Smith.

My discovery came as a consequence of the latest dining-out promotion in The Times; its name jumped out at me from the list published of those taking part. A quick online search suggested this was an ideal place for an informal dinner – not least because of the mention of a friendly black labrador called Guinness to keep us company. Sensing that he might be confined to the bar area, I booked a table there, with the cheerily friendly person at the other end of the phone line – presumably this was Annie – saying we could move into the restaurant if we preferred it.

As it turned out, we thought we had made the right decision. There was a pleasant buzz in the flagstone-floored bar where (this being the Smiths’ night off) admirable stand-ins were on duty. Groups of drinkers came in and stood at the bar, or were seated at some of the tables. Ten or so diners were at others. Guinness was there too. He welcomed us on arrival and later came to sit at my feet, showing particular interest when the cheese course arrived. His behaviour stopped well short of scrounging, however (remarkable in a labrador). I suspect a firm hand has been applied in his training.

The Tollgate’s team of chefs has devised an admirable menu. It makes full use of many locally sourced ingredients, including Kingham’s famous cheeses. There is also plenty of fish, sent up from a supplier in Looe. Besides what you are going to hear about presently, there were starters of pan-seared scallops with pea velouté, and crab and avocado salad, and main courses such as goat’s cheese and roasted pepper pancakes, fillet of Hereford beef and baked sea bass with basil linguine. On the specials board, among other things, were Kingham green cheese and pear tart and cheese and cauliflower soup (to start) and Oxford blue and spinach tart and breast of guinea fowl with mustard mash and Oddington greens.

Puds (all in the form of specials) included lemon posset with berries, raspberry parfait and chocolate bread and butter pudding.

To start, I ordered ham-hock terrine, and was impressed both by its flavour and quantity. There were two generous slices of the moist, lean meat, wrapped in parsley and without quantities of the chewy jelly sometimes present in the dish. It was judiciously teamed with peach compote.

Rosemarie also stayed with the menu for her starter of twice-baked Kingham green cheese soufflé, which was enjoyed though it was rather less cheesy than expected. She then went to the specials board for her main course dish of Cornish lemon sole fillets, with crab risotto cakes. This was the last portion of the fish, the waitress explained, and because it was not quite a full one (though the two perfectly cooked fillets seemed fine to Rosemarie) she had been given an extra crab cake.

This was no bad thing, since it meant I could have some, too, to accompany my large and juicy chunk of pan-fried halibut – pearly white and wonderfully fresh tasting – which was served with a port sauce, dauphinoise potatoes (plenty of cheese with these), local (and remarkably late) asparagus and baby carrots.

Afterwards, Rosemarie had a slice of well-made chocolate and walnut tart, and then joined me on polishing off the three cheeses. These were the semi-hard Aveton goat’s cheese and the soft Sarsden sheep’s cheese, both from the village’s celebrated cheesemakers Karen and Roger Crudge, and the always-excellent Oxford Blue. They were served with grapes, celery, strips of red pepper and three types of biscuit. Thus ended a very happy meal at a pub I wholeheartedly recommend.