HAVING a friend from north of the county I like to meet with regularly means finding somewhere halfway between to eat.

Our favourite is The World’s End pub four miles north of Bere Regis.

It’s a big place, so when there’s a whole group of us we can usually find a table, and the menu is so big there’s always something to tempt everybody.

The day we met was a lovely summer Friday evening and the pub was packed. We were warned there would be a 45 minute wait for food but as it turned out it was a fraction of that.

Despite my diet I was tempted to try a starter of grilled goats cheese on wholegrain bread with pine nuts, rocket salad, black olives with sun-dried tomato dressing. Although it made me feel guilty, it was too delicious for me to stop eating it all.

My friend chose the homemade potato wedges, topped with sliced field mushrooms, bacon, chopped red onion and mature cheddar and she thought it excellent – although for her taste she usually likes the wedges slightly thinner.

We had a choice of pork and herb pate, chicken wings, prawn cocktail, buffalo mozzarella and red pepper bruschetta, garlic field mushrooms, Mediterranean-style air dried ham, a mezze board of flatbread, houmous, tzatziki, olives and tomato chutney or a larder board to share of pate, garlic bread, slow roast vegetables, ham, goats cheese, chutney and tossed salad.

There was so much variety for our main course, both on the menu and the specials board it was hard to choose.

As my friend is married to a vegetarian and he does most of the cooking she wanted to indulge in some meat but wanted something simple so picked the bacon and chicken burger which she said was moist, huge and delicious.

I had penne with fresh peas, asparagus, hard cheese and lemon butter which could have had a few more asparagus spears as I found it just a bit too delicate for my taste. As there were a number of spicier options like Thai green curry, vegetable or chicken tikka masala, barbecue ribs or steak au poivre, it was perhaps my own fault.

The menu included all the favourite pub classics. It is particularly nice to see the smaller appetite and children catered for and even the puddings have a ‘mini pud’ option, and for the dieters that’s a real plus – we can still have a taste of the trifle, lemon syllabub, tiramusu, Eton mess, creme brulee or a choice of ice creams without doing too much penance.

All in all a great pub dining experience.

MY BILL: Potato wedges - £3.95 Goats cheese salad - £4.50 Penne with asparaguS - £6.25 Bacon and chicken burger - £7.75 Mini pud trifle - £1.50 Mini pud Eton mess - £1.50 TOTAL - £25.45 The World’s End, Almer, Dorset DT11 9EW, 01929 459671.