Le Moulin de Lecq, Jersey

It could just be the perfect pub for our turbulent times: an oasis of calm in a picture-postcard spot on the north Jersey coast. What’s more, it’s a quintessential English inn that has a French name in a place where the currency is the pound and they drive on the left but isn’t, and never was, a member of the EU.

Approached down a winding lane of the sort that forms much of the island’s road network, Le Moulin de Lecq is nestled into the foot of a wooded hillside. Parts of the building date back as far as the 12th century, and the name refers to its long-gone former use as a fuller’s mill, where wool was cleaned and pressed to make it thicker.

The mill’s restored waterwheel is silent now but still sits on the exterior, while inside its winding gear forms a striking backdrop to the main bar.

There’s an ancient fort, Le Catel de Lecq, nearby, and the pub, too, has seen action in Jersey’s more troubled times, when it was requisitioned by the occupying German army in the Second World War to power search lights to protect against coastal attack.

By contrast, it’s now an almost unfeasibly peaceful repose for walkers and holidaymakers to recharge their batteries on beer and local seafood.

The latter is a shoo-in for a pint of High House Farm Black Moss, a dry and salty porter with a thread of liquorice running through it that’s travelled all the way from Newcastle upon Tyne.

The pub’s own cask Wheel Ale – geddit? – has come just a few miles from the island’s Liberation Brewery. It has all the toffee-tinged sweet maltiness of a traditional bitter, with a kiss of hoppy bitterness, more a restrained peck on the cheek than a full-on French kiss.

Jersey’s size means you’re never too far from the next place you need to be, so you have time to sink into your seat and soak up Le Moulin’s charms. In the world of pubs, people vote with their feet, not the ballot box, when they’re dissatisfied; but this is one where you won’t want to make a quick exit.

Nigel Huddleston

St Ouen, Jersey JE3 2DT 01534 482818; moulindelecq.co.uk