Jade Wright enjoys a traditional Sunday lunch at the Cottage Loaf, in Thurstaston

IT’S hard to beat a good Sunday lunch. It’s the one day of the week when I get to sit down and relax over a great meal, rather than eating a hurried sandwich at my desk.

But at home it’s the product of hours of slaving away in the kitchen, as I spend the afternoon parboiling and roasting, ready for hordes of hungry friends and family to descend and eat it all.

So I’ve realised the best thing to do is to let someone else do the hard work and instead focus my energies on a long, lazy lunch, and maybe even a nap before dinner.

But finding a good Sunday lunch is harder than I’d thought. I’ve exhausted most of the city centre offerings – and been largely disappointed.

But over the water, it seems the standard is much higher, with picturesque rural pubs vying for custom with high quality food and very reasonable prices.

The Cottage Loaf is a perfect example of this. Set in the pleasant surroundings of Thurstaston Common, it’s ideal to enjoy hearty fare after a ramble along the Wirral Way.

Admittedly, for this visit we’d been at the Remembrance Sunday service at St George’s Hall, rather than out rambling for hours, but we’d still worked up an appetite, so we drove over to Thurstaston to try their Sunday offering.

The dining room is large and airy, with plenty of space between tables.

Approaching 2pm, the Sunday lunch rush was in full swing, there were a number of diners at tables and the bar area was busy.

But the staff still found time to greet us with a smile and quickly find us a table.

We ordered a couple of drinks while we perused the menu. As designated driver, I opted for a lime and soda (£1.05) and my boyfriend went for a pint of Becks (£2.90).

For those looking for light bites, there is an extensive selection of salads, fish dishes and gourmet burgers. If you’re in need of something hearty, there are 28-day matured black Angus steaks with a range of sauces or simple yet tasty classics like bangers and mash, gammon and shepherds’ pie.

But we’d come out for a proper Sunday lunch, and having seen a selection carried to other tables, we couldn’t be swayed.

To start, I ordered seasonal soup of the day with rustic bread and butter (£3.19), which turned out to be tomato.

My boyfriend ordered oven-baked stuffed mushrooms with Shropshire Blue cheese and mushroom filling on a bed of rocket with balsamic glaze (£3.99). For our mains we ordered a beef roast and a nut roast (both £8.49).

Our starters arrived swiftly, and piping hot, to the table. The presentation was impressive. The mushrooms were drizzled artfully with balsamic reduction and the soup was served with a huge wedge of granary bread and a ramekin of softened butter. The little touches showed a chef that takes real pride in the food.

The mushrooms were soft and obviously slow-roasted for some time. The blue cheese didn’t crowd out the flavoursome but subtle mushrooms. The bed of rocket and balsamic vinegar gave a sweet contrast and peppery flavour to the finish.

My soup was chunky and obviously home made. It was a light start to the meal, and we quickly polished off our starters.

Almost as soon as our plates were taken away, the mains arrived.

The beef was thickly cut, which is a bonus where Sunday pub lunches are concerned, as there’s a temptation to slice it wafer thin. However, it was in parts slightly gristly, and could have done with being a bit hotter when it arrived at the table. But nonetheless, the portions were very generous.

The vegetables were a triumph – lovely fresh carrot and cabbage, garden peas, roast potatoes and really tasty mash. Both dishes arrived with a large Yorkshire pudding, sage and onion stuffing and lashings of gravy.

The nut roast was packed with cashews and cranberries, but wasn’t crispy enough. Rather than a solid slice, it arrived more as a large dollop on one side of the plate. I applaud them for serving a vegetarian roast – so many places don’t even try – but the execution could have been better.

Nevertheless, both roasts were neatly polished off, and despite their impressive size, we were determined to try a couple of dishes from the tempting pudding menu.

My boyfriend is something of a cheeseboard obsessive – he’s tried a good proportion of the city centre offerings, and now he’s looking further afield. So, unsurprisingly, he couldn’t be swayed from the Award-winning cheese platter (£4.69). I opted for the waitress’ recommendation of oven-baked crumble of the day (£4.69), which turned out to be blackberry and gooseberry.

We ordered a cappuccino (£2.10) and a glass of Merlot (£2.90) from the bar to drink with our puddings. The wine was too brawny and highly tannic for my taste, but the Illy coffee was good. After a few minutes a second cappuccino arrived. There had been a mix up in the kitchen, so our friendly waitress insisted we had the second one for free.

The cheese board was a real success. The Wensleydale was creamy but crumbly, while the “tickler” Cheddar was, if not really that ticklish, very tasty.

The wedges of each were some of the biggest offerings on any cheese board we’ve seen, and it was a good thing. The highlight was the Shropshire blue, and my boyfriend was delighted that there was no shortage of crackers. The cheese board alone, with its generous allocation of grapes and celery to give some watery refreshment to the cleanse the palate, could easily make for a light lunch in its own right.

On my side of the table, the crumble was equally well received. The two berries ensured the right balance of acidity and sugariness, making a splendidly tangy sweet-sharp filling, topped with fluffy crumble. It was served with a pretty little jug of rich, thick custard.

As we finished the last of our drinks, the staff were in no rush to hurry us out. I suppose that’s the benefit of having a large dining room, and plenty of staff.

Mention must go to the excellent service – the waiting-on is prompt and thoughtful and the staff have a good knowledge of the menu.

As we finally waddled out into the fresh air, sleepy and satisfied, we resolved to