Now the murky nights and misty mornings are well and truly upon us, I would certainly warm to life in a less-demanding part of the globe. But glorious autumnal glades with their piles of fallen leaves, firework nights with mulled win like rocket fuel and the inevitable hunt for hats and scarves before a bracing walk cannot be replace by a Christmas barbecue on the beach. So I, for one, am staying.

Anyway, I could not bear to be without the irreplaceable British pub - complete with glowing fire, famished families and weary walkers - in winter-time. The Weighbridge Inn, near Nailsworth, is the ideal example of the hostelry you should be heading for if you're in need of a tonic.

Ever one to embrace a tonic, Mrs B decides the time is right to sample a glass of warming wine and whiff of wood smoke, so we weave our way along the golden lands of Gloucestershire.

It is soon obvious that turning up at this popular pub on a Sunday without a reservation is the kind of gamble normally found in casinos - every table is booked.

However, a very helpful waitress has a brainwave and urges us to follow her into a quiet corner where, lo and behold, we find ourselves gazing upon a glorified plant stand.

"We call it the Cosy Table," explains the nice waitress, who bustles off to find us cutlery and a menu. We can see why. You certainly have to cosy up to whoever you're dining with. Not one for sharing with a business partner, unless, that is, they're a sleeping partner.

Luckily, I have known Mrs B for a long time and we are able to arrange a comfortable jigsaw of joints. It's a bit like doing the lambda over lunch.

I carefully extract myself to go to the bar and order some drinks - a pint of cider for me and a glass or red for Mrs B. By now, the pub is quickly filling up, so I get ahead of the game and place our order. My choice is easy, for the pub earns its crust by serving up its famous "two in one" pies. The concept is simple: half the bowl contains a helping of cauliflower cheese. It's all topped with pastry - et voila! - a complete meal. No need for two dishes on the table - you just nosh and go.

I lift the lid on my turkey and trimmings (£9.80), just to check that it really does include the promised chipolatas, bacon, stuffing and cranberry jelly. In fact, the only thing missing is a Christmas cracker.

The pastry is both crusty and crumbly, the meat is moist and plentiful and the cauliflower rounds off a true triumph.

Mrs B decides to pig out on bangers and mash (£8.45). She has a huge plateful of Gloucester Old Spot sausages atop a mound of pesto mash, drowning in a thick sea of onion gravy. The snorkers are tasty, the potato has just the right amount of basil flavour seeping though - but she wishes they'd held back a tad with the gravy.

One of our pet hates is lukewarm food, so I'm glad to report the Weighbridge serves the meails pleasingly hot. Happily, we're sitting so close together, it only takes one of us to blow on a piping hot forkful for us both to feel the benefit.

I am achingly full after polishing off the pie but Mrs B insists we try a dessert, though she allows me to choose which one. How gracious.

We share chocolate parkin (£4.45), which turns out to be chocolate sponge with a hazelnut praline topping, served with mint custard.

It's reminiscent of a comforting school pud, though the accompaniment is an odd sensation for my tastebuds, which are searching for the roast lamb.

This delightfully friendly pub was once both a weighbridge and a local inn, serving a packhorse trail that was used to carry cloth from the Nailsworth mills to Bristol. When the busy landlord wasn't pulling pints, he was out checking the scales. Fortunately for me, the weighbridge is a thing of the past: After that lunch, I'd break it.

We paid £30.85 for two main courses, one pudding and drinks from the bar. The Weighbridge Inn, Longfords, Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire. Call: 01453 832520