Country pubs have a particular charm and the very best transcend a mere local in to something worth travelling for.
So we have done — usually these are within an hour or two of London, these spots are all notable for a particularly romantic setting, a menu that punches above its weight, a wine list that rivals the best of those in town and beers on draught little seen beyond the lesser-known bars of the home counties. Sometimes, we’ve travelled further, finding places to stay in overnight too.
From Seasalter to Somerset, these are the Going Out team’s best Country Pubs of 2024.
The Lord Poulett Arms, Somerset
Ever encountered Bramley hand wash? It is, they say, the new Aesop. It’s also the work of the Beckford Group, a growing enterprise with bucolic pubs throughout the West Country.
Among its jewels is the Lord Poulett Arms in the village of Hinton St George, Somerset, three hours from London (bit far? Rooms start at just £100 per night) and 35 minutes from Lyme Regis.
Beckford pubs are kept as country pubs should be: a little shabby, cast in dark wood, candlelit, and joyfully beery. Food menus focus on regional produce and so expect Cornish mussels, roast cod and Devonshire steaks; service feels warm and local. Plenty of wines on offer, too, and a cheeseboard that celebrates — you guessed it — the West Country. Perfect for a jolly Christmas getaway.
High Street, Hinton Saint George, TA17 8SE, lordpoulettarms.com
The Plough Inn, Kelmscott
In the dainty village of Kelmscott, in the Cotswolds, sits the Plough Inn, a diminutive pub with lush gardens outside and log burners within.
A visit might bookend an amble around the former home of the designer William Morris, who lived nearby, and could well include dogs and a stroll through the Oxfordshire countryside. There is often a handsome golden retriever by the bar, beneath tankards and three cask ales on rotation. Elsewhere, a decent wine list and a generous menu of pub classics.
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The Scotch eggs, salt and pepper squid and fishcakes are well worth exploring. Those with a whole weekend of it might stay the night in one of the rooms. Fun fact: one of the owners, years ago, shared a flat with former footballers Mark Bright and Ian Wright.
Kelmscott, Lechlade, GL7 3HG, theploughinnkelmscott.com
The White Hart, Aldeburgh
The White Hart in Aldeburgh is unashamedly bougie: people remove their Birkenstocks and slip into scuffed Blundstone boots as soon as they reach the butcher’s shop (superb sausage rolls).
This pub is the leveller. It’s where locals and second home owners collide in a flurry of Suffolk ale and spongy pizzas. Inside, a seaside pub: one ornamental room clad in wood like the hull of a ship. Outside, the meeting place: dog walkers, tourists, and fish and chips queuers congregate.
It is usually adorned with old boys in fleeces, wives and dogs in tow, all drinking the best that Adnams brewery produces — Southwold bitter is one, Ghost Ship another — one of two guest ales, bottles of prosecco and measures of rum.
The bar in the corner has all the veritable pub signage and wonderful staff. In fine weather, people congregate outside, or sit out back where the pizzas are found. They are well made, floppy numbers that aid getting home after an afternoon session.
Those who wish to stick around might dine and stay at the Suffolk, George Pell’s excellent restaurant with rooms just up the road.
222 High Street, Aldeburgh, Suffolk, IP15 5AJ, whitehartaldeburgh.co.uk
The Mutton at Hazeley Heath, Hampshire
Those who wish to drive to the Mutton at Hazeley Heath may do so, but that would mean missing out on Hook railway station, which is a gentle place. There is a mini library, fairly standard for smaller transport hubs, especially those in rural settings, but there is also a notice from the local history society providing details about the area.
Did you know that in 1953 the Queen stopped at Hook on her way to visit RAF Odiham? Or that it was once staffed by no less than one station master, two booking clerks, one parcel porter, one goods foreman, three luggage porters, three signalmen, and two lamp boys?
Today you would be hard-pressed to find anyone beyond a ticket inspector, though there is an ongoing jigsaw puzzle in the corner of the station. It is open to anyone, the pieces on a little wooden table waiting for those with time to partake. Two others, already completed, hang on the wall beside a pinboard displaying community news. The neighbourhood allotment association is particularly active.
It is a costly exercise to get the train to the Mutton because after Hook a taxi is required. And so the pub has a sizeable car park. What awaits whatever the mode of transport is a modern, high-end gastropub in northern Hampshire, sitting pretty in the countryside between Reading and Basingstoke (though far enough away from both to feel wholly bucolic).
The garden outside overlooks Hazeley Farm — excellent in good weather — while the pub is among the cosiest in the area come wind and rain. On the menu, “pub classics” are heralded, but thin on the ground. No matter, the newer, more adventurous dishes make for good eating alongside well-kept cask ales, lagers and cocktails. Not a bad wine list, either.
Be sure to try the snacks, which meander from barbecue mutton ribs (£6) to charcuterie (£16), mackerel crumpets (£10) to a slow-braised beef spring roll (£11). The service is swift and diligent, well suited to those in Barbour jackets, Hunter wellies and the like. Dogs are welcome to boot. A hint of moneyed countryside charm less than an hour from London and without the sheer effort of the Cotswolds.
Hook, RG27 8NB. Pints from £6.40. themuttonathazeleyheath.co.uk
Jeremy Clarkson's the Farmer's Dog, Cotswolds
The best point of reference for Jeremy Clarkson’s new Cotswolds pub, at least for London types, might be Soho Farmhouse, a 30-minute drive to the north. The Farmer’s Dog is pocketed in a gentler part of the equestrian, gin-and-you-miss it landscape: not far from Witney and Lord Cameron (east), and Burford (west), an Arts and Crafts town home to postcard cottages, Oxford Blue cheese and an excellent curry house. It’s called Spice Lounge, if you’re wondering, and it’s run by my school friend Jaf.
What’s the Farmer’s Dog all about? PR, sure, but also Clarkson’s keen and very real interest in fine British produce. Available are his own Hawkstone beers, lager, stout and cider, pulled by him if you’re lucky. Pints start at £5.50 (for a cask ale) and there’s a considered selection of English wines from across the country. The cheapest glass, also £5.50, is a white: Château Dorking (as per the menu). But don’t worry, Clarkson hasn’t swerved the lady petrol, long cited as his favourite drink. There’s a decent one from Gloucestershire but it would be worth upping the ante and spending £7.50 on a glass of Château Tenterden (again: his joke, not mine) from Chapel Down in Kent.
To eat, a simple menu comprising pub classics. Starters sit below £10 and main courses aren’t more than £20. It’s local pork in the sausage rolls, same for the beef in the steak pie. Big dishes come with “veg of the day”, a pub tradition bound to the simple nature of the countryside. The only curiosity is a lack of fish. There’s a carvery roast come weekends.
The pub is big, by the way, and kitted out in a bucolic, carefree fashion. There’s a lot of wood and foliage and an old tractor suspended from the ceiling. A fairly inviting space: strong beams; excellent stone. Outside is better yet thanks to sweeping views of the Oxfordshire countryside. These can be enjoyed on a terrace, or by a shed selling milk, dubbed “cow juice” — the live laugh love of farming lingo.
All in all, Clarkson’s attempts at a pub are nothing but sound: beer, meat, the greenery of life — and a long broadcasting career — culminating in what could well prove to be a highly popular endeavour.
Asthall Barrow Roundabout, Burford, Oxfordshire, OX18 4HJ. thefarmersdogpub.com
Jodie Kidd's the Half Moon, West Sussex
Jeremy Clarkson isn’t the only motorhead with a country pub. Jodie Kidd bought hers, the Half Moon in West Sussex, in 2017, and is thoroughly involved — she’s a strong advocate for the traditional British boozer.
The pub, in West Sussex, sits just above the South Downs, and so is ideally situated for those planning a bracing autumn walk before winter sets in. From the front, the building looks cottage-like in red brick, the sort of place you imagine a great Victorian author to live having moved down from London post-bestselling novel.
That is ultimately what Kidd has done: a splendid career has allowed her to go full country, sport Wellington boots and put up fancy umbrellas. The Half Moon is distinctly upmarket; the village of Kirdford is moneyed enough to support a higher-end proposition. It’s still a pub, though: stroll in and have a pint and a Scotch egg with brown sauce (£6, not at all bad) if that is all that’s required by way of sustenance.
As for its famous landlady, you might see her pulling a pint of Long Blonde on a busy weekend, even after a stint racing, or modelling, or riding a horse on TV. She has helped to build a rural enclave, postcard-pretty thanks to a sweeping English garden, impeccably kept and with a lawn that must necessitate serious work. Inside is of wood, stone and pleasing trinkets, not to mention a roaring fire.
To drink, Birra Moretti, Guinness, cask ales and high-end spirits. As mentioned, it isn’t a cheap pub but it’s worth splashing out in: there’s a £75 tasting menu to be enjoyed — produce is bought within a 20-mile radius, Kidd once told me — a surefire win for those turning up in supercars. To see a Ferrari parked outside is not at all uncommon.
Those looking for a simpler experience might get a £22 burger, which is one of the most proficient in the Home Counties: local beef, cheddar and chorizo jam in a potato bun. No nonsense brioche here. But a truly enormous helping of French fries.
Drinks from around £6. Glasshouse Lane, Kirdford, Billingshurst RH14 0LT. halfmoonkirdford.co.uk
The Packhorse, Mapledurham
Put the saddle on the horse to chase the fox. That was the line locals used to remember the order of the three pubs — the Pack Saddle, the Packhorse and the Fox — that weaved out from Reading into the Chilterns.
It’s a long time now since the Fox became an Indian restaurant, and then was flattened to make way for charmless houses.
The Saddle and Horse remain; both are beauties. The Packhorse particularly, a squat 17th-century farmhouse with a frontage from a century later. Inside it is cosy, wood floor and carpet, a roaring fire by a curved bar, dogs usually snoozing as walkers tap the mud from their boots.
Much of the place now is given over to food, and menus change daily: expect modern pub favourites (scallops, crispy squid, pork belly, lamb shoulder), to be eaten with local beers and good wine.
Mapledurham, Oxfordshire, brunningandprice.co.uk
The Old Neptune, Whitstable
The Old Neptune — the Neppy, or the Pub on the Beach — is a beacon. In summer, it is a pitstop for pints under the sun; in winter, its wind-warped, white clapboard frontage begins to merge bleakly into the grey sky, and it becomes a refuge.
On its shingled stretch of beach in Whitstable, it stands alone, with nothing but its own picnic benches for company. But in the wood-panelled interior, the pub heaves with punters sitting at the bar, in front of gleaming copper taps and fridges busy with Shepherd Neame beers. Food is uncomplicated — fish and chips, pints of prawns, jacket potatoes, crab sandwiches.
Is it all a bit pricey? Perhaps. But then someone will light up a guitar and the pub will rock with blues and soul, drowning out the waves launching themselves on the shoreline.
Marine Terrace, Island Wall, Whitstable, CT5 1EJ, thepubonthebeach.co.uk
The Pub with No Name
It is a logical incongruity: how can it be the Pub With No Name, when that’s it? Paradoxes abound. Besides, it’s actually the White Horse, only no one calls it that.
The pub is a beauty: a white-fronted, 17th-century place, joyfully crooked. Inside it is all wooden beams and ironwork, and a floor by turns wooden, stone-flagged, and here and there thickly carpeted. You come to burrow into leather armchairs and cosy up by the fire — there are fireplaces all over, and candles too. It sits in isolation, far from everywhere, and so its job is to be a beacon. And to comfort.
The best place to be comforted is in the Edward Thomas bar, named after the Adlestrop poet, who wrote here. In the winter, diners sit with faces warmed by steaming pies. A good run of beer is offered. Nothing is missing. Not even a name.
Priors Dean, Petersfield, Hampshire, thepubwithnoname.uk
The Dew Drop Inn, Hurley
There’s something faintly fairytale-ish about The Dew Drop Inn, right down to the address. Honey Lane, Pudding Hill — which scriptwriter dreamt up that? It is Hollywood picturesque; not for nothing is it known as “the little pub in the woods”.
Despite this, it is not far from London, Maidenhead being 20-odd minutes from Paddington and the inn only a short taxi ride after that. But it offers tranquillity of the transportive kind.
Perfectly mad chef Simon Bonwick’s departure is a loss — his understated style has been replaced by something showier — but food remains good; crayfish and clam tagliatelle, scented with garlic and rosemary and chilli, is particularly appealing, and each week there’s a different homemade sausage.
In summer, the place with its languid lawn is at its best, but wrap up warm now to sit in crisp wintery air with pints of impressively well-kept beer. Beware though, of Boxing Day, when Morris dancers are threatened.
Honey Lane, Pudding Hill, Hurley, Berkshire; dewdrophurley.co.uk
The Sportsman, Seasalter
I waited seven years to dine at the Sportsman after first reading of it, and cursed myself for every wasted minute and month. The Sportsman works because it holds the element of surprise: the drive to it, cutting out of Whitstable through barren coastal fields, does not offer promise.
The building itself, with its jutting conservatory (where those just drinking can sit), is no beauty. And then comes the food: the five-course, £80 tasting menu is the one to have: it changes, but oysters tend to be a constant, and expect lots of grilled fish and roasted meats. There will be seaside touches throughout — seaweed here and there, pebbles from the beach as part of the presentation. The wine list offers uncommonly good value. It is as plain a pub as they come, with no gastropub pretensions despite its Michelin star, but it happens to serve some of the country’s best food.
Faversham Road, Seasalter, Kent; thesportsmanseasalter.co.uk
