CLOSE your eyes at The Fat Dog in Shrivenham and you could be on the other side of the world . . . well, you could on the evening we visited.

Not only was the weather nice enough for us to eat al fresco but also it seemed like a good half of the clientele, and a fair few staff too, were Aussies.

The mix of customers probably has something to do with the pub-restaurant's proximity to the military college in Shrivenham.

While it's doubtful anyone would fly halfway round the world just to visit the recently revamped pub, it is well worth travelling a few miles out of Swindon for.

And it's closer than you think, or at least closer than I thought it would be. Owner Paul Studholme, who also runs The Brewer's Arms in Wanborough and The Apartment in Swindon town centre, reckons you can do it in 10 minutes from Old Town but I think he probably drives a bit quicker than me!

Anyway, it was a pleasant little jaunt on a sunny summer evening - you leave the A420 at the first turn-off towards Bourton and Shrivenham and just after reaching Shrivenham take the B4000 towards Lambourn. The pub is just down the road near a railway line (it was formerly the Victoria Tavern).

Eating outside - and it seemed a shame not to when the weather was so good and the garden has been decked out so nicely - we did get conversation interrupted occasionally by a train going by, but it beats being drowned out by a loud jukebox or cheesy mood music.

There was a classy but laid-back ambience about the place and, perhaps it was the Antipodean influence, service was with a smile. A rather nice one, as it happens. I'm not saying our waiter was a hunk, but after he'd finished reeling off the specials and walked away neither my daughter nor I could remember what he'd just said. It seems we'd both had a lapse of concentration!

We gave up on the specials and looked at the main menu. While we were dithering we ordered mixed breads with butter and olive oil (£3.50) and olives (£2.50) off the tapas menu.

We were quite tempted by a few of the dozen tapas - black tiger prawns in garlic butter (£4.50), sesame chicken with butter and pine nuts (£5) and chorizo with lentils and kidney beans (£4) were all particularly appealing. But in the end we ordered from the evening menu.

The choice isn't huge - 10 dishes, supplemented by specials - but it's all nice sounding stuff and had two vegetarian dishes, along with three fish, pork, chicken, duck and steak options.

The grilled sardines with thyme, rock salt and olive oil with charred onions, olives and new potatoes in a balsamic reduction (£10.25) proved a good choice, as did the duck (£12.95).

Although not really crispy, as promised on the menu, the duck breast with vegetable noodles and plum sauce was good. There's also a lunchtime menu with an assortment of dishes including baguettes and jacket potatoes at £5.50.

On Sundays there's often a live musician playing and, if the sun shines, a chef cooks on the outside grill area.

Another good reason to go back before autumn.

The Fat Dog

Station Road, Shrivenham.

Telephone: (01793) 783443.

Open daily: Monday to Saturday till 11pm. Sunday till 10.30pm.

Food is served noon to 3pm and 5.30pm to 9.30pm, Monday to Saturday. Sunday: noon to 4pm and 7pm to 9.30pm with the outside barbecue grill menu from noon to 9pm.