The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
SOUTH EAST
Alfriston East Sussex
Full of charm, this Sussex village has a green, or “tye”, in the shadow of a splendid church, a sprinkling of listed buildings exhibiting knapped flint walls, a trio of pubs, a lowland river, a village square, a chalk figure standing watch on nearby chalk downland and Alfriston Clergy House – the first building to be saved by the National Trust. This thatched beauty has a cottage garden and a medlar tree in the orchard. Tea stops include Badgers and the un-twee Singing Kettle (with arguably the best scones in East Sussex). Friston Forest, the Cuckmere Valley, Beachy Head, Drusillas Park and the vineyards of Rathfinny are on the doorstep.
WHERE TO STAY
Wingrove House has a range of room types (from £135; wingrovehousealfriston.com) and a three-bedroom selfcatering cottage (from £850pw).
WHERE TO EAT
The half-timbered George Inn was first licensed in 1397 and has an inglenook fireplace and a beer garden overlooking the green (thegeorge-alfriston.com).
THE BEST DAY OUT
Get close to the Long Man of Wilmington on a circular walk that takes in Windover Hill and views to the sea.
Teresa Machan
Bosham West Sussex
The loveliness of Bosham (pronounced “Bozzum”) cannot be overstated. Approach along Shore Road – which gets covered at high tide – and you may expire from the sheer overload of beauty. Between a quay strewn with little wooden boats and a Grade I-listed church, Bosham village green is perfect for sunset, when locals and regulars
gather to picnic, pop corks, play badminton, and drag sailing dinghies up the slipway. Sailing is Bosham’s raison d’être. It is situated at the end of an inlet in Chichester Harbour, a peaceful natural estuary encompassing islands, inlets and backwaters where samphire grows.
WHERE TO STAY
The Millstream Hotel (millstreamhotel. com; from £135, B&B), for dining amid roses. Top holiday rental is the contemporary Terrarium (sleeps 10; uniquehomestays.com; from £6,995pw).
WHERE TO EAT
The Millstream or, for pub fare and drinks, the Anchor Bleu (anchorbleu. co.uk) with its two suntrap terraces.
THE BEST DAY OUT
Go sailing. If you don’t sail, rent a kayak to explore Chichester Harbour from the water (fluidadventures.co.uk). West Wittering’s sand dunes are across the estuary (westwitteringestate.co.uk).
Laura Fowler
Dedham Essex
The much-maligned county of Essex has just one Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty: Dedham Vale, known as Constable Country. A mile or so upstream, the village of Dedham is just as picturesque. The Dedham Boatyard serves seafood and local ales on a terrace overlooking the water, where cows cool off in summer. The Georgian high street has the pale-pink Essex Rose tea room, dating from the 16th century, and the canary-yellow Sun Inn – a superb pub with rooms.
WHERE TO STAY
The Sun Inn (thesuninndedham.com; doubles from £175) has seven gorgeous rooms, a terrific restaurant, a verdant garden and bikes for rent.
WHERE TO EAT
The Sun Inn, or Dedham Boathouse Eatery (theboatyarddedham.co.uk) for dishes featuring local veg and seafood.
THE BEST DAY OUT
Have a long lunch then take out a rowing boat and drift through the painterly prettiness of the Stour, ideally with someone else doing the rowing.
Laura Fowler
Chilham Kent
Perched on the side of the Stour Valley, Chilham has it all: a medieval square lined by wonky timber-frame buildings, two good pubs, a cute tea room, a post office and a church that was the last known resting place of the shrine of St Augustine after the Reformation. It also has a handy train station (it’s about 90 minutes from London) and a Jacobean mansion, built on the site of an 8th-century castle. The castle is private but its formal gardens and parkland are open every Tuesday and Thursday (May-September). At least 15 TV and movie productions have been shot here over the years, from the BBC’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma to episodes of Miss Marple.
WHERE TO STAY
The 15th-century Woolpack is a characterful old pub with doubles from £110, B&B (woolpackchilham.co.uk).
WHERE TO EAT
The White Horse Inn does proper ales and good pub grub, and is great for live music too (thewhitehorse.pub).
THE BEST DAY OUT
Canterbury is eight minutes away by train. Or walk there (seven miles), via hop fields, along the Pilgrim’s Way.
Sarah Baxter
Sonning Berkshire
In his 1889 classic Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K Jerome describes “sweet Sonning” as “the most fairy-like little nook on the whole river”. Granted, things have changed in the 130 years since it was written, but it remains sweet as a button, as English as Eton mess. Old Father Thames slides green and silent beneath weeping willows, reflecting the 18th-century arches of Sonning Bridge and diverging around islands. The village is a place of rose-rambled houses, charming pubs and restaurants, and a “dinner theatre”, the Mill, which puts on productions in a Georgian mill set on an island.
WHERE TO STAY
The timber-framed Bull Inn (doubles from £120, B&B; bullinnsonning. co.uk) has craft ales, seven rooms and the odd performance in the garden.
WHERE TO EAT
Coppa Club’s Great House (coppaclub. co.uk), for its buzzy bar and riverside terrace with “igloos” for all-weather dining (double rooms from £117, B&B).
THE BEST DAY OUT
Spend the day messing about on the Thames and its bucolic backwaters (rent canoes/SUPs at wokinghamwatersidecentre.com). For more watersports, head for Caversham Lakes.
Laura Fowler