Ploughman's Lunch Reviews

The Alma Inn, Linton

A traditional British Ploughman’s Lunch served on a rustic wooden board. The meal includes thick slices of Wiltshire-style ham, mature cheddar cheese, a halved Scotch egg with a golden yolk, pickled onions, red cabbage coleslaw, a pot of tangy chutney, a pat of Wyke Farms butter, mixed salad with cucumber, red onion, and tomato, and slices of crusty baguette. A separate black bowl holds golden, crispy potato wedges. In the background, a pint glass with a slice of lemon and condiments sit on a wooden pub table, creating a warm, inviting setting.

Ploughman’s lunch at The Alma Inn, Linton reviewed

Location –
The Alma Inn
Off Fording Lane,
Linton,
HR9 7RY

Tel: 01989 720355
hello@almainnlinton.co.uk

Website – https://www.almainnlinton.co.uk/

Date of Visit – 06/06/2025

Editor’s Note: This is a contributed review, not one of mine – and I think it’s wonderful. A big thanks to Mavis for submitting it. We need to spread the word of good ploughman’s lunches across the nation. Fancy doing a review? Contact me and let’s spread the good word and good butter.

All that follows is theirs, not mine, and like what I’m seeing.

Notes on the visit:
Had never heard of this pub before, but it is only 20 minutes from home and I had a Friday evening catch-up with a local friend. I have given all scores out of 10 – you may need to adjust for your scoring. I greedily ordered chips as well, and these were plentiful, crispy and fat (yum!) but I needn’t have added these to the table as I struggled to finish the ploughman’s itself.

The Food

8 – Pickled Onion. One large onion cut into quarters longitudinally. Crunchy with a mild tanginess. I usually favour more challenging pickles, but this fitted nicely with the rest of the offerings.

A traditional British Ploughman’s Lunch served on a rustic wooden board. The meal includes thick slices of Wiltshire-style ham, mature cheddar cheese, a halved Scotch egg with a golden yolk, pickled onions, red cabbage coleslaw, a pot of tangy chutney, a pat of Wyke Farms butter, mixed salad with cucumber, red onion, and tomato, and slices of crusty baguette. A separate black bowl holds golden, crispy potato wedges. In the background, a pint glass with a slice of lemon and condiments sit on a wooden pub table, creating a warm, inviting setting.
Alma Inn Ploughman’s Lunch

7 – Pickle. Spicy tomato chutney. Tasty but fairly generic. Lots of onion seeds and quite sweet, no chilli oomph (but then, it could well be considered spicy by those who do not share my chilli tolerance). Would have preferred a good piccalilli, with it’s mustard kick, to accompany the ham.

9 – Cheese & Ham:

Cheese – two good slices of Worcestershire Hop cheese – one I’ve not come across before, being more familiar with the Hop cheese from neighbouring Herefordshire. I find the Hereford Hop to be fairly bland, but this had a pleasing bite alongside its notable creaminess.

Ham – a giant, whopping, thick slice of what very much appeared to be home-cooked ham. Honestly, the picture doesn’t do it justice – once I’d cleared the plate a little, once unfurled this slice, it covered at least a third of the platter. Delicious! Would’ve been even better with something mustardy like piccalilli

7 – Bread: Some sort of ciabatta roll sliced into batons. Yes, it was warm. Yes, it was crusty. But I want more than a 1cm wide bit of carbohydrate to smother with butter and pile on cheese/ham morsels.

5 – Spread Butter Nice little wrapped button of Netherend Farm butter. Properly at room temperature and very easy to spread. Tasty. Shame there wasn’t much surface area of the warm, crusty bread to spread it on.

5 – Presentation: Nicely done indeed. Good-sized, solid lump of wood. Well arranged!

5 – Salad, etc.

Coleslaw:
A small pot of red cabbage coleslaw could well have been homemade. Nice and crunchy, not too sweet.

Salad:
Perfect corner of interesting-enough leaves, finely sliced red onion, tomatoes and cucumber, with a good dressing

4 – Originality. All the basics, with a few slightly left-field tweaks.

Scotch Egg
I have mixed feelings about this one. It had a beautifully jammy yolk and tasty ‘scotch’, it was warm and well seasoned, but it was a little too crispy on the outside and had been cooked a smidge too long/too hot.

Food Total: 50

Close-up of a traditional British Ploughman’s Lunch on a rustic wooden board. The image features thick slices of Wiltshire-style ham, a wedge of mature cheddar cheese, half a Scotch egg with a bright orange yolk, peeled pickled onions, creamy red cabbage coleslaw in a white ramekin, a pot of dark fruity chutney, and a pat of Wyke Farms butter. The textures and colours highlight the hearty, homemade feel of this classic cold pub meal.
Close up Alma Inn Ploughmans Lunch

Beverages

8 – Drinks: Both of us were driving so no sampling of the range on offer – there were at least 5 ales, including some local (although I forget the breweries), a couple of lagers and of course, several local ciders. Coke and Coke Zero both slightly disappointingly served from a can.

Drinks Total: 8

The Venue

9 – Service: Friendly welcome, service not intrusive and no hovering about when we’d finished and our plates cleared: we seemed welcome to sit and chat (which we did, for quite some time).

10 – Atmosphere: Village pub adjacent to, but not accessible from, the M50. Decent-sized car park and some parking in front for easier access. Looks like a good village pub – board games, books, pool table etc. It was quite busy with family groups as well as what appeared to be regulars, but it didn’t feel crowded. Several dogs around – all friendly and well behaved. I didn’t go outside, but they put on a village festival each year, and the photos on their webpage show a large garden – I bet this would be lovely on a sunny afternoon with a cold pint of cider.

Close-up of a printed pub menu from The Alma Inn, resting on a wooden table. The visible section features the "Pub Classics" and "Starter or Light Bite" categories. Dishes include beer-battered fish and chips, ham with eggs and chunky chips, a Ploughman's lunch with ham, warm Scotch egg, Worcestershire Hop cheese, coleslaw, chutney, pickled onion, crusty bread and butter, local sausages and mash with onion gravy, and macaroni cheese with garlic bread and salad. Prices range from £11 to £17.50, with smaller portion options listed. The layout is clean with classic serif fonts on cream textured paper.
Alma Inn Menu

4 – Location: The location is great if you live near Newent and want to catch up with a friend who lives near Ross-on-Wye! If you’re not local then it would be a good stop-off if you were using the M50 for any reason, and infinitely better than the ‘food’ offerings adjacent to either the M50 or A40 in this area. The music festival looks worthy of attention as well. As I didn’t venture outside I can’t vouch for the views, but the village looks nice and tidy, typical for roundabouts here.

5 – Toilets: Having only visited the ladies’, I can only comment on 50% of the provision, but they were perfectly functional and adequate. Bonus points for having nice paper hand towels as well as the ubiquitous hot air dryer. Grab rail in the cubicle for those who need such things.

A pint of golden ale with a frothy head served in a traditional dimpled glass tankard, resting on a wooden pub table beside a Butcombe Bitter coaster. In the foreground, a halved Scotch egg with a soft golden yolk is accompanied by a ramekin of caramelised onion chutney and a ramekin of pickled onions. A side of mixed leafy salad is partially visible, with a red patterned wallpaper adding warmth to the cosy pub setting.
Alma Inn Snacks – Picture from https://www.almainnlinton.co.uk/

Venue total: 28

Total Score: 86

Editor’s note: Many thanks to Mavis for this contribution. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did – maybe it will inspire you to drop in here, or another place, and sample a ploughman’s lunch.

I would have ordered the chips too – who can resist some chips?

Also, please visit Romaing the Paths, as they hold unlimited Ploughman’s Buffet events. where an entry ticket allows you to enjoy amazing local cheeses and all the other components until you are content.

Do you like a ploughman’s? Fancy doing a review? Drop me a line. It’s quite easy. You can pretty much work out the scoring regime from this review. Send me a few words and pictures, and you will be fully credited.

Do you make products that would feature in a Ploughman’s lunch? Then perhaps you might like to sponsor this website for a feature article for your product.

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