A while ago, Brading's former Red Lion Inn looked as though it was going to follow so many small rural pubs, and turn into housing. But it didn't - quite the contrary.

After a sojourn as the Smart Fox, the place now seems to be running on an even keel as the Dark Horse; offering good pub grub in a very comfortable atmosphere. After first rolling up just a few weeks after the place reopened back in 2009, Matt and Cat returned with junior reviewer Bill in tow to see what the Dark Horse was up to these days.

One thing's for sure, the Dark Horse is a nice venue. The Island's not over-blessed with really olde worlde pubs of the traditional English type: the pub-building boom here was in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. But the Dark Horse has plenty of authentic charm to go round. Real old wooden beams, low ceilings, flagstoned floors and stone walls give out a warmth and welcome that has been well-used. The tables are scrubbed pine, the chairs are upholstered with traditional patterns, and there seem to be more real fires than are strictly necessary for heating purposes.

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For generations, rooks have cawed and squabbled over twigs in the high trees at the crossroads at the top of Wootton's High Street.

It's hard not to imagine this spot as it must have been 150 years ago; a busy thoroughfare in a pretty rural village, with the graceful villas of the well-heeled scattered amongst the leafy hedges. Today, the rumble of lorries has dispelled the peace, but the rooks are still there, as are their trees, and at least one of those attractive villas survives as The Cedars, a characterful and unpretentious suburban pub.

Matt and Cat, who've driven past The Cedars many times but rarely ventured in, decided to give it a try one evening after work. Outside, the building looks pretty much as it might have done in its days as a house, having survived some of the more dramatic pub transformations. Inside it is divided up into a public bar and lounge bar in a satisfyingly traditional manner, having missed out on the fashion to knock all of the rooms through to create a pub juggernaut. Also having passed the pub by is the less permanent but equally destructive fun pub makeover trend of the 1980s, where your local hostelry became a cocktail bar, funked up with post-modern pastels and jazzy laminates. (At the time, Cat's local The Wheelbarrow, was transformed with a lick of paint and a wet-look awning into 'Wheelies').

Having winkled their way through from the public bar with its pool table, to the lounge, Matt and Cat were warmly greeted by a very chatty lady, who pointed out the menu and pulled Matt a very welcome pint of HSB.

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It's grand, it's old, it's the Duke of York. And it's even half way up a hill.

Cowes has a rich variety of eating-houses spread along its wandering High Street, but if one continues southwards into the territory of boatyards and terraced houses stuffed with glamorous young digital professionals, a wholesome-looking town pub comes into view: the Duke of York. This Victorian hotel probably once provided ale and lodgings for stevedores and sailmakers. It now attracts yachties from the nearby Cowes Marina, as well as itinerant food reviewers. Matt was invited to this Cowes pub for a meeting of the Wightbook book club, and so he popped along early to see if the food was any good, for once leaving Cat to dine elsewhere.

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Visit the website: http://www.dukeofyorkcowes.co.uk/

St Helens is a delightful-looking village, arranged around a series of greens to facilitate perfectly the curtain-twitching neighbourliness which village life demands.

Rather carelessly, St Helens has managed to mislay two churches - one is almost entirely fallen into the sea, whilst the other is located in the countryside about a mile from the village. This leaves a vacancy for a local community hub which is filled by the village pub, the Vine Inn.

A modest Victorian hostelry set amongst the houses looking over the green, the Vine Inn has a bit of the town-pub look about it. Would it be nothing more than a few dusty rooms and a dartboard? The lively signs outside suggested otherwise, and so Matt and Cat decided to put the Vine to the test.

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Visit the website: http://www.the-vine-inn.co.uk/

The Isle of Wight is great in the summer; there’s so much to do and many places to do it. Matt and Cat like nothing more than to sit in a sunny tea garden feeding scone crumbs to squabbling sparrows while indulging in the food of the gods.

The depths of winter however, are closed season for the teashops. Even if they could find one, Matt and Cat would probably not want to eat in a chilly leafless garden. What is required on an inclement night is a hearty meal eaten in front of a roaring log fire in a friendly location. So, with this mental image burned into their collective cerebellum, M and C headed to Sandown. Although typically the home of the beachside diner they wondered how this classic seaside town would measure up in January.

The town wasn’t quite as unoccupied as Seaview in the skiing season; lights twinkled optimistically from several windows and there were people in the streets. Heartened by these signs of life, Matt and Cat drove along the esplanade past some surprisingly busy hotels and headed inland to the Caulkheads.

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Visit the website: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=128053157270#!/caulkheadspub