Six of the best country pubs with rooms
Featuring locally sourced meat and vegetables, open fireplaces and a lack of mobile phone reception
1. The Bell at Skenfrith
Monmouthshire
There are many winning things about this Monmouthshire pub – the “dreamy setting”, the “on-the-button” bedrooms, the jug of fresh milk that awaits your arrival – but it’s the “food that brings people here over and over”, said Condé Nast Traveller. Locally sourced meat and organic vegetables from The Bell’s own garden feature heavily on the well-thought-out menu. With no mobile reception, it’s a “place to really come and switch off”.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
2. The Dorset Arms
Withyham, East Sussex
For a relaxing break at this time of year, you can’t beat a stay at a country pub with good food on-site. And this village inn on the Buckhurst Estate on the Sussex Weald certainly ticks all the boxes, said Andy Lynes in The Times. It has an open fire and exposed beams; there are “guest ales from Sussex brewers at the bar”; and the menu is a mix of pub classics and more refined dishes, such as roasted slip sole with seaweed butter. There are nine rooms, all with fine views.
3. The Fox Inn
Corscombe, Dorset
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
When his restaurant empire collapsed last year, chef Mark Hix retreated to Dorset – where he has now opened this inn, said Benjamin Parker in The Daily Telegraph. To look at, it’s the “epitome of a remote village pub”, but this is no standard rural boozer: among the menu’s treats are Brownsea Island rock oysters, and Himalayan salt-aged porterhouse. For now, there’s just one room to stay in – “Bill’s Annexe”, named after Hix’s grandfather – but “more accommodation is on the way”.
4. The Gunton Arms
Thorpe Market, Norfolk
This converted 18th century house is set in a 1,000-acre deer park in north Norfolk, said Andy Lynes in The Times. Inside there are comfy sofas and open fireplaces, and art by the likes of Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin on the walls. Chef Stuart Tattersall does much of his cooking over a fire in front of guests: dishes include Gunton red deer rump, and shoulder of lamb with bubble-and-squeak. The rooms all have views over the park, and many are “dog-friendly”.
5. The Rose & Crown
Romaldkirk, County Durham
A creeper-covered coaching inn near Barnard Castle, The Rose & Crown exudes a “well-judged sense of rustic charm”, said Helen Pickles in The Daily Telegraph. With so much to do in the area – walking, sailing, kayaking – it’s handy that the kitchen will make up a packed lunch for you. The food – which can be eaten in the dining room or the buzzy bar – is “no fuss, but definitely interesting”: think homemade spiced cauliflower soup and pan-fried loin of Teesdale lamb.
6. The Kingham Plough
Kingham, Oxfordshire
The Plough is what every pub should be, said Condé Nast Traveller: dependable, delightful and extremely good value. Run by a friendly, keen-to-please couple, it has an impressive selection of booze, first-rate bar snacks and extremely comfortable rooms. But most blissful of all is the breakfast: “excellent freshly ground coffee, Burford Browns with tangerine yolks, home-made bread and baked beans that don’t come from a tin”. It’s a bolthole, in short, that you won’t want to leave.
-
Music reviews: Chance the Rapper, Cass McCombs, and Molly Tuttle
Feature "Star Line," "Interior Live Oak," and "So Long Little Miss Sunshine"
-
Film reviews: Eden and Honey Don't!
Feature Seekers of a new utopia spiral into savagery and a queer private eye prowls a high-desert town
-
Critics' choice: Three chefs fulfilling their ambitions
Feature Kwame Onwuachi's grand second act, Travis Lett makes a comeback, and Jeff Watson's new Korean restaurant
-
Music reviews: Chance the Rapper, Cass McCombs, and Molly Tuttle
Feature "Star Line," "Interior Live Oak," and "So Long Little Miss Sunshine"
-
Film reviews: Eden and Honey Don't!
Feature Seekers of a new utopia spiral into savagery and a queer private eye prowls a high-desert town
-
Critics' choice: Three chefs fulfilling their ambitions
Feature Kwame Onwuachi's grand second act, Travis Lett makes a comeback, and Jeff Watson's new Korean restaurant
-
Book reviews: 'The Headache: The Science of a Most Confounding Affliction—and a Search for Relief' and 'Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of "Born to Run"'
Feature The search for a headache cure and revisiting Springsteen's 'Born to Run' album on its 50th anniversary
-
Keith McNally's 6 favorite books that have ambitious characters
Feature The London-born restaurateur recommends works by Leo Tolstoy, John le Carré, and more
-
'Mankeeping': Why women are fed up
Feature Women no longer want to take on the full emotional and social needs of their partners
-
Ford Ranger Plug-in Hybrid: 'more than just a novelty'
The Week Recommends Europe's first plug-in hybrid pickup is 'surprisingly agile'
-
6 lush homes in the trees
Feature Featuring a glass house in Texas and a home built for a Broncos quarterback in Colorado