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”.
Subscribe to 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
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.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
What's next for Elon Musk?
Today's Big Question The world's richest man has become 'disillusioned' with politics – but returning to his tech empire presents its own challenges
-
Quiz of The Week: 24 – 30 May
Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
-
The Week Unwrapped: Will Europe beat China and India to the North Pole?
Podcast Plus, is the man who designed the iPhone going to kill his own creation? And what's going on at the equalities watchdog?
-
Ancient India: living traditions – 'ethereal and sensual' exhibition
The Week Recommends Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism are explored in show that remains 'remarkably compact'
-
6 well-preserved homes built in the 1930s
Feature Featuring a restored 1934 colonial in Arizona and a cold-storage warehouse turned loft in New York City
-
Things in Nature Merely Grow: memoir of 'harsh beauty' after loss
The Week Recommends Chinese-American novelist Yiyun Li's 'devastating' memoir explores the deaths of her two sons
-
Sirens: entertaining satire on the lives of the ultra-wealthy stars Julianne Moore
The Week Recommends This 'blackly comic affair' unfurls at a 'breakneck speed'
-
Mrs Warren's Profession: 'tour-de-force' from Imelda Staunton and daughter Bessie Carter
The Week Recommends Mother-daughter duo bring new life to George Bernard Shaw's morality play
-
Critics' choice: Steak houses that break from tradition
Feature Eight hours of slow-roasting prime rib, a 41-ounce steak, and a former Catholic school chapel turned steakhouse
-
Tash Aw's 6 favorite books about forbidden love
Feature The Malaysian novelist recommends works by James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and more
-
Film reviews: Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning, Lilo & Stitch, and Final Destination: Bloodlines
Feature Tom Cruise risks life and limb to entertain us, a young girl befriends a destructive alien, and death stalks a family that resets fate's toll.