Valiant Trooper

Avoid this place at all costs because of the grumpy, rude landlord who hates kids.
The village is beautiful and the pub itself is very attractive. There is a nice pub garden with a children’s play area at the back. We were there last Saturday lunch time. My kids (5 and 3) were excited about the playground so they headed straight there. I was immediately aware of a man on the edge of the playground stumbling around and not catching anyone’s eye. I thought he was probably drunk, particularly when he stood for a few seconds with his hands on his knees and his head down, so I watched (him and) my kids closely. The older one — he’s five — animatedly and enthusiastically said «HELLO!» to this character, followed by a friendly «What you are doing?»
The man snapped back, angrily «Minding my own effing business. What are YOU doing?» Seriously, this person said that to a friendly FIVE YEAR OLD on a playground. Five year old looked dejected and confused and mumbled «playing» (and later went on to say «minding my own effing business» for the rest of the day). Said man continued to stumble around and glare at the kids for a few more minutes before I asked him what the problem was and told him that my kids just wanted to play on the children’s playground. By this point he’d picked up a bag of something — concrete or sand and it seemed like perhaps rather than a drunk patron he actually worked there.
I was stunned when he told me that he was the LANDLORD. What kind of fully grown man talks to a child like that?! And what kind of businessman is so unwelcoming and unfriendly to customers?
At this point I told him we’d be taking our business elsewhere (he didn’t care) and went inside the pub to get my husband who was still buying drinks. In fairness, when the women behind the bar heard what happened they were very apologetic. They initially told us that he was not the landlord but a handyman — and that he wasn’t coping with the heat well (my initial assessment that he was drunk was probably wrong). But a few minutes later they admitted (bizarrely) that they had lied initially, that he WAS the landlord and that he didn’t like kids, then they gave us our round for free. Unfortunately this meant returning to where the landlord was, who didn’t acknowledge us or apologise, which was very uncomfortable. We should have just left

Fantastic selection of ales and bitters. Great friendly and fast wait staff. Nice and large garden. Cream tea was solid. Gutted I had eaten and could not try the venison burger with cranberry sauce.

The Trooper has recently changed hands & I have yet to eat there since this happened however I have popped in for drinks on several occasions whilst out walking around Ashridge. It is still one of my favourite country pubs, a real find and a treasure. Great selection of beers and ales, staff are everything you could wish for. You can take dogs inside, the garden is spacious and appealing. Highly recommended and I will update once I’ve tried the food.

Delightful country pub which we always use when walking in the Chilterns. Excellent choice of beers. Good food. Friendly service.