This is a first, I think, peering into the wardrobe where instead of a safe, there's a shotgun cabinet. This is not the first clue that we are deep into horse-and-hound territory. Two huge stone great danes guard the entrance to Bel & the Dragon; a bronze statue of a rearing horse greets drivers in the car park.
On the edge of the village of Churt, in the Surrey Hills, this is the fifth pub makeover by Longshot Country Inns, which has spent £700,000 turning an old boozer into a gastro pub with 14 rooms. The roomy bar and atmospheric dining room are kitted out with factory-style lights, chapel chairs and wooden tables set with milk-bottle vases of daisies. Original features include a beautiful parquet floor and wood panelling painted in tasteful teal.
Upstairs, the 14 bedrooms, each named after a Jane Austen character (the writer lived just over the border in Hampshire), bear the classic hallmarks of gentrification: distressed furniture, worn classic books on the shelves, Roberts radio and cast-iron radiators. The bed is super comfy and there are nice touches, like a bottle of Sixsmith damson vodka on the windowsill, but overall it feels safe – there's no wow factor here. What lifts Bel & the Dragon above the usual gastro experience is the service. Manager Mike Procopakis, who spent years working in far-flung destinations including Zanzibar and Honduras, is the perfect host, charming without being smooth; and his staff are warm, chatty and helpful.
A pub aimed at the hunting brigade may not be typical Guardian territory, but there are no braying gents on our visit, just a lot of locals, happy to see a tired pub given a new lease of life and enjoying good food and drink. Our tuna and scallop starters and sea bass and steak mains are all excellent – the chips particularly moreish. We skip the Olivier Leflaive house wines, mainly because they come in magnums – great if you're part of a group, dangerous if you're not – and order by the glass instead
The pub bills itself as family-friendly, and the big garden with slide and Wendy house gave me a twinge of guilt for not bringing our four-year-old. But if he'd been with us I wouldn't have been able to read the papers over pancakes with fruit and clotted cream until 11am. We rallied for a quick march up the hill across the road for sweeping views of "Little Switzerland," as Victorian Londoners dubbed the area. These heathery slopes and wooded valleys have stood in for all sorts of countries, most recently Scotland in a new film of Macbeth starring Michael Fassbender.
The Sculpture Park opposite the pub offers a different environment to explore: 10 acres of gardens, lakes and woodland and a 600-strong collection of artworks. And a short drive away the sandy beach and swimmable lake at Frensham Great Pond is a great spot for families. But torrential rain put paid to our plans. We'll just have to come back. If the sun shines, I can always leave my umbrella in the gun cabinet.
• Accommodation was provided by Bel & the Dragon
