This picturesque country pub looking out upon the Malvern Hills is really beginning to bloom now spring is here and will prove a real suntrap in summer thanks to a new beer garden.
The first thing that captivates any visitor to the Three Horseshoes at 105 Poolbrook Road in Malvern is the superb view it commands of the Malvern Hills as they rise majestically on the horizon, giving it a strong sense of place.
With plenty of outdoor seating on the easement land (owned by the Malvern Hills Trust) at the front of the pub, customers can savour the marvellous setting while enjoying a cooling pint or a bite to eat.
This is a pub with the best of both worlds, close to the town itself but keeping its rustic, countryside charm and character, ensconced in an oasis of greenery.
But it is inside where this cracking pub is really coming into its own thanks to Bolton-born landlord, Iain Goslin, who has fallen in love not only with Malvern but this characterful pub he has brought back to life. A humble chap, he will have a go at any project which improves the pub but acknowledges he has done this with help from friends (if you haven't got tradesmen in your pub, Mr Goslin believes you must be doing something wrong).
Many from Malvern may know the 57-year-old from his time at the Unicorn pub in Great Malvern but he is already quite at home in the Horseshoes.
With the help of a good friend, he has turned his hand to creating a new beer garden with a pagoda and quirky water features at the back of the pub.
This is impressive considering he has only been the landlord at the Stonegate pub since last May. We have also yet to mention his epic fundraising efforts for the Midlands Air Ambulance (more on this later). This is a pub (and a landlord) with a big heart where community is important.
He believes the pub dates from the 1700s, built around a blacksmith's shop which explains how it earned its name.
Mr Goslin moved to Malvern eight years ago. Asked what he loved about the town, he said: "It's the people really. I loved the pub straight away, even the state it was in [when he took it over]. It had something about it, a character and personality."
When he arrived, he said he made it his mission to clean up the pub in every sense, including the lines and the cellar. The menu has also been refreshed thanks to chef Roy Maxwell, known as 'Max' or sometimes 'Caribbean to the Max' because of his roots in Grenada.
Many of the dishes are typically English and 'good value' traditional pub classics such as fish and chips with garden peas (£14.95), scampi and chips £13.95), homemade pie of the week (£14.95) and a cheeseburger with salad, burger sauce and chips (£12.95).
But if you think that's all there is to the pub's menu, you would be wrong.
Max provides an added Caribbean twist, including curried lamb, jerk chicken and Max's Fried Chicken. The carvery remains a hugely popular draw.
Food is served every day of the week between 12.30pm and 2.30pm and again from 5pm to 8.30pm.
Max, now 64, says she has worked as a chef since he was a teenager. "There's no place around here does that combination of traditional English pub food and Caribbean food," he said.
The staff pride themselves on the pub being a safe place to drink, eat and socialise for people of all backgrounds from 'millionaires' to people with more limited means looking for reasonable prices and from women looking for a chat after a yoga class to couples walking in the Malvern Hills.
"It's a very, friendly welcoming pub. It is also one of the best value pubs for beer," said Mr Goslin.
When I visit Timothy Taylor's Boltmaker and Butty Bach (Wye Valley Brewery) but the pub also serves rotating guest ales, including Wadworth (6x), Purity (Mad Goose and UBU).
But he has the choice of around 50 cask ales he can bring in, including bigger barrels in the summer.
The pub is a veritable cabinet of curiosities which serve as ornaments and talking points - an old sewing machine, a microscope, a working accordion and even some stocks in the beer garden which the landlord was only too happy to demonstrate were fully functional.
But Mr Goslin has added some touches of his own including a chandelier made from barrel rings and some water features in the beer garden which seats 42 people and is still described as 'a work in progress'.
The pub also has a full calendar of events - Saturday night has live music between 9pm and 11pm which showcases local talent and provides a stage for musicians from further afield.
Musicians perform in a range of styles from rock and pop to Motown, Northern soul and blues.
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Quiz nights are every Thursday at 8pm, raising money for the Midlands Air Ambulance. Support for this charity, and others (including Sight Concern), is a consistent theme at the Three Horseshoes.
Mr Goslin has bought an old Volvo for under £500 for the Malvern Jalopy Run, a 3,000 mile round trip (assuming he does not get lost) between Malvern and twin towns Bagnères-de-Bigorre in south western France and Mariánské Lázně in the Czech Republic, to raise money for the Midlands Air Ambulance.
The Malvern European Jalopy Adventure is set to kick off on Sunday, May 25, with participants expected to return around Friday, May 30 (use of motorways and Sat Nav is not permitted).
The aim is to raise enough to pay for 10,000 litres of fuel for the air ambulance.
Mr Goslin is passionate about the importance of the air ambulance, to Malvern in particular, especially after recent incidents at Welland. "It's a resource that the area still needs," he said.
The pub is open between noon and 10.30pm on most weekdays, noon until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays and from noon until 10.30pm on Sundays.
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