Pub of the Month
Location: Monknash (nearish to llantwit Major)

Plough and Harrow

The village of Monknash has one pub for every ten people. Unfortunately, only ten people live in Monknash. Fortunately, it's home to the Plough and Harrow - the UK's second best pub (according to a 2003 poll of 65,000 pubs by CAMRA)

Finding the place is an absolute nightmare. We were only 10 miles away and it took us over an hour. When you get there you'll find a big white cottage with a massive beer garden. There's also a big marquee for regular bands/BBQ's. It was packed too - full of travellers from Australia, America and Barry.

Inside, the place is authentically ancient: fireplace, wooden beams and hanging meat hooks - all set in a sinister light. Fair play to the locals too, they gave us a decent welcome and made a few suggestions on some of the 200 ales on offer.

We spent most of the night talking to some Finnish birds who could barely speak a word of English. After a few drinks though we'd completely overcome any language barriers. They've now got our addresses for the Finnish game - though the wives won't be too happy.

We should also mention the restaurant to the left. It's a bit more upmarket than your standard pub-grub, and definitely a place to impress the missus.

So is it the best pub in Wales?
So far, yes - although we'll admit there are a few thousand more for us to visit.

Score 9.5 leeks out of 10