NEXT month, the A67 between Darlington and Barnard Castle will close for nearly a year as a large landslide is shored up at Carlbury. Cars will be diverted away from the village of High Coniscliffe, but discerning diners will still be beating a path to the doors of the Spotted Dog.

When we arrived on Saturday evening, every table was taken, 20 or more snowy heads from a Women's Institute were placing their orders, and a party of four without a reservation were being turned away.

The Spotted Dog is the last of Coniscliffe's six pubs – the Duke of Wellington retreated from the fray of the pub trade a couple of years ago and is now houses.

From the A67, the Dog looks a low, ancient building, but it rambles back a long way. At the front, there's a delightful, private, bay-windowed dining room which overlooks a green screen of trees through which poke the intriguing ruins of a tumbledown coaching house; in the middle are several intimate tables, and at the rear is space big enough for the WI to dine round a huge table.

As they were ordering more than just jam and Jerusalem, we were warned that our service might not be as prompt as normal, although we didn't notice any delay.

The Dog's menu is quite limited. There were four starters: soup, prawn cocktail, chicken liver parfait and chicken Caesar salad. Petra, my wife, ordered the prawns, which were exactly as expected, covered in sauce and lying on a bed of crunchy green lettuce. I chose the parfait, which was really good. It was very smooth and a nicely tasty, but it didn't have that overpowering pungency of some chicken livers. It was accompanied by an onion marmalade which gave it a little lift but was a touch too sweet for my taste.

For the main course, there was a choice of four steaks from the grill, and a further four regular meals: steak and ale pie, fish and chips, cumberland sausages and fish bake. There were two chicken-related specials plus two vegetarian dishes on blackboards.

I chose a special chicken, on an onion mash in mushroom sauce, but unfortunately a vegetarian risotto turned up at the table. The order had gone through wrongly.

We all make mistakes – it is how they are rectified that counts, and the Dog did well. There was a deep and genuine apology, a free round of drinks and the right chicken emerged about ten minutes later.

When it arrived, it was good. In fact, it was better than just good. Two large pieces of chicken breast on a goodly dollop of mash with really mushroomy mushrooms in the sauce. Plus on top there was some greenery. The waiter couldn't enlighten us on what the greenery was, so we guessed at a deep fried leaf. Whatever it was, it was light and crispy and a welcome addition to a successful dish.

In the meantime, Petra enjoyed her fish bake. There were large chunks of cod, smoked haddock and prawns in a tasty creamy sauce with a goodly dollop of mash on top. It, too, was a successful dish, although there was probably too much cheese on top of the mash.

For dessert, the choice was two cheesecakes, a frangipane, sticky toffee pudding or ice cream. I am always content with sticky toffee pudding, and this ticked all the boxes: sponge, plenty of sauce and some melting ice cream. Petra chose a strawberry cheesecake and that, too, was perfectly pleasant.

The bill, including a tenner's worth of drinks, came to £48 – starters and desserts are under £5; main courses are under £10. Honest food at an honest price in pleasant surroundings – when the road is closed, it'll be worth going on a little detour to find.

The Spotted Dog, High Coniscliffe, Darlington

01325 374351

spotteddogcountrypub.co.uk

Ambience: ****
Service: ***
Food quality: ***
Value for money: ****