Fireside lunches in cheerful pubs are one of the great pleasures of the UK winter, and this score of snug venues all come with somewhere to stay as well as cobweb-clearing walks from the door.
Crown & Punchbowl, Horningsea, Cambridgeshire
Horningsea is a thatched village just up the towpath from Cambridge and four miles along fenland footpaths from Anglesey Abbey, whose winter garden is famous for its snowdrops. Villages with fewer than 400 people don’t always manage to save their pub, but Horningsea has two. This one and the Plough and Fleece, with quiz nights and live music. The Crown & Punchbowl’s weekday set menu might feature tangy linguine puttanesca and raspberry and pistachio cheesecake. Nine bedrooms are named after famous academics and thinkers.
Doubles from £130 room-only, thecrownandpunchbowl.co.uk
Duke William, Ickham, Kent
With candles in wax-dribbled bottles and chalkboard specials over a brick-walled fireplace, this appealing country pub is a muddy morning’s walk (or short bus ride) from Canterbury. Food includes roast venison, pan-fried mallard and Kentish cheeses. There’s Dockyard gin from Chatham plus Woolton Farm wine from Bekesbourne, a couple of miles away. Four comfortable bedrooms over the bar come with a supply of fresh milk and a free carafe of Rubis chocolate wine. The room I stayed in had double doors on to a roof terrace offering views of sunset clouds and stubbled fields. An excellent breakfast, served from 9am, includes yoghurt from the East Kent Downs and toasted local sourdough.
Doubles from £110 B&B, thedukewilliamickham.com
Fullerton Arms, Ballintoy, County Antrim
In 2016, Storm Gertrude ripped up some centuries-old beeches from the avenue known as Dark Hedges, (familiar to Game of Thrones fans as the Kingsroad). Ten doors, fashioned from the fallen trees, were carved with scenes from the cult TV show and placed in 10 pubs with Thrones connections in Northern Ireland. A fierce dragon embellishes the deep-brown polished door in Ballintoy’s Fullerton Arms. From the pub, it’s 20 minutes’ walk down a dramatic winding road to the cliff-ringed harbour, used to film scenes involving Theon Greyjoy in the Iron Islands. The steep climb back up will help build an appetite for the pub’s rope-grown mussels or seafood chowder, and Northern Irish specialities such as champ (mash with spring onions).
Doubles from £60 B&B, fullerton-arms.com
George III, Penmaenpool, Gwynedd
This whitewashed pub stands at one end of a wooden toll bridge over the River Mawddach, right by the wide water. When I stopped for a pint after walking seven miles of the Mawddach Trail from Barmouth, there were wintering birds wading in the sunset river. In winter, there’s a cast iron log burner in the welcoming bar, which has tables made of barrels. Pizzas and doorstep sandwiches are the main lunchtime offering, but Sundays are all about massive roasts with splendid sides, from creamed leeks to pigs in blankets. Some rooms have views across the estuary to the Yr Wyddfa (Snowdonia) hills, and big breakfasts could include local bacon and black pudding or avocado and mushrooms.
Doubles from £115 B&B, georgethethird.pub
The Bell at Charlbury, Oxfordshire
Inglenooks, bay windows and high-backed wooden settles make the revamped Bell a cosy space for lunch. Opened this autumn after a total renovation, it’s the latest Cotswold pub to get a luxurious makeover from Daylesford Organic. The bar is made of ash from the Daylesford estate, its weathered gold top reflecting the low lamplight. The menu features venison from the North Downs, fish from Cornwall, heritage vegetables and Daylesford’s own artisanal cheeses. Puddings include roasted plums and Alfonso’s gelato from Oxford. The pub is 10 minutes’ stroll from Charlbury railway station with a well-served bus stop outside and the long-distance Oxfordshire Way nearby, making it an excellent base for a car-free Cotswold break. The new bedrooms are both fresh and olde worlde, with block-printed Oxfordshire wallpaper, embroidered hangings and names like Oak and Meadowsweet.
Doubles from £195 B&B, thebellatcharlbury.com
George Inn, Norton St Philip, Somerset
Reopened on 5 November after a major restoration, the half-timbered George Inn is a Grade I-listed building dating from the 14th-century and, having served beer for more than 700 years, one of several taverns vying for the title of England’s oldest. The bar, with its antique tables, majolica jugs and pewter tankards, has been moved to a bigger area, furnished with snug drinking corners and zhuzhed up with vintage paints and grand fabrics. The wood-floored dining room has a huge original stone fireplace, repurposed pews and cushioned benches, where diners can tuck into local pigeon or Butcombe beer-battered fish and chips, leaving room for sticky figgy pudding and local cheeses. The 13 luxuriously redecorated bedrooms are all different, some in a timber-framed gallery above the inn’s old courtyard.
Doubles from £115 B&B, georgeinnnsp.co.uk
The Feathers, Ledbury, Herefordshire
Orchard-ringed Ledbury was a staging post on the road from Hereford to London and the high street is lined with old coaching inns. The refurbished Feathers is one of the oldest, and the striking black-and-white 16th-century house that is now part of the Feathers kickstarted the town’s eye-catching trend for half-timbered architecture. Inside, there are bold colours and wing-backed armchairs under beams and chandeliers. Fancy lunches offer tasty twists such as fishcake with seaweed and fennel mayo, or a rhubarb and ginger creme brulee. Twenty stylish bedrooms include a deluxe suite in an old brick cottage off the courtyard.
Doubles from £115 room-only, feathersledbury.co.uk
The Three Horseshoes, near Leek, Staffordshire
Winter lunches at the Three Horseshoes, on the edge of the Peak District, offer serious ballast. There are big roasts, curries, lasagnes – and syrup sponge with custard for afters. When I stayed, in stormy December, I enjoyed rich, hazelnut-topped cauliflower soup. At the heart of the fairylit dining room is a flaming faux-charcoal hearth with an anvil. The industrial theme continues in the Mill Wheel spa next door, which offers a Christmas package with mulled wine. Some bedrooms have their own hot tubs.
Doubles from £90 room-only (spa is extra), 3shoesinn.co.uk
Golden Fleece, York
In a city riddled with spooky tales, the Golden Fleece is York’s most ghost-infested inn and is well placed for pub-crawling through cobbled medieval streets. Half a dozen other-worldly inhabitants include Lady Alice Peckett, who allegedly wanders the corridors and moves furniture at night. One of York’s 22 cat sculptures, a spectral white feline, can be seen emerging from the wall of the pub. There’s nothing insubstantial about the food, though. From a carnivorous mixed grill to a rhubarb and custard sundae, the menu, with daily pie and crumble offerings, is a hefty counterweight to the pub’s resident wraiths. Possibly scarier than anything else here are the £3 Jägermeister shots and all-day 2-for-1 cocktails. Upstairs, the wonky-walled bedrooms are a must-stay for ghosthunters.
Doubles from £80 room-only, greatukpubs.co.uk/the-golden-fleece-york
The Bell in Ticehurst, East Sussex
A collection of birdboxes, a silver pig, a stuffed peregrine falcon on a perch … there are curious items filling almost every corner of the Bell. The gents’ loos even sport brass horns instead of urinals. But the Bell is not just quirky. Its award-scooping food reinvents pub classics: potato salad with horseradish or a venison burger with Sussex cheddar and pickled red onions. Upstairs, the sumptuous eccentricity continues. With names like Hush of Trees and The Moon Wild, each bedroom is decorated with a silver birch tree trunk, and there are attic beams, arched windows and vintage tiles.
Doubles from £145 room-only thebellinticehurst.com
Pheasant Inn, Tattenhall, Cheshire
The award-winning all-day menu at the Pheasant takes lunch to a cheerfully elevated level. Puddings, often served with ice-cream from a farm down the road, are worth leaving room for. The inn sits high on the Sandstone Ridge with views as far as Liverpool on a clear day. The inside is inviting, especially in fairy-lit winter. There are open fires and beamed ceilings and the restaurant gleams with copper pans and horse brasses. As I walked through the woods nearby, pheasants startled noisily out of holly trees, making the pub’s name feel apt. And those birds often end up as crispy cordon bleu parcels on diners’ plates. Beers include locally brewed Pheasant Gold. When I visited, there were feathery pheasant decorations among the Christmas wreaths. Outbuildings house 12 smart bedrooms, named after local hills and castles.
Doubles from £180 B&B, thepheasantinn.co.uk
Seagate, Appledore, Devon
Above this old tavern – and in a former sail loft nearby – are tasteful rooms in fresh maritime colours. In the bar, there’s fire and lantern light and excellent breakfasts. Local ingredients for lunch include Brixham crab and West Country beef and there’s a daily board of seafood specials. The epic South West coast path runs past the door, looping round the sandy beaches towards Westward Ho! There are views from the Seagate across the Torridge estuary: tall white egrets can even be spotted from the windows of sea-facing bedrooms.
Doubles from £89 B&B, theseagate.co.uk
Silverdale Hotel, Silverdale, Lancashire
After a January afternoon spent watching starlings swirl over the reedbeds at RSPB Leighton Moss down the road, the family-run Silverdale is a welcoming haven. It’s a warm, traditional pub with real ales and a generous menu. Richard and Tom’s homemade pies might be filled with chicken, leek and mushroom one day or lamb and roast veg the next. There is also excellent sticky toffee pud. Come for a pint and pudding; stay for the wild pine-topped headlands on the marshy fringes of Morecambe Bay.
Doubles from £90 B&B, thesilverdalehotel.co.uk
Spread Eagle, Wandsworth, London
From the outside, the Spread Eagle looks unpromising, with four lanes of traffic passing the windows, but the opulent Victorian interior is surprisingly peaceful, with original etched glass and moulded ceilings. Camra calls it a pub interior of exceptional national historic importance. It was immaculately renovated in 2022, with floorboards stripped, fireplaces restored, and the dark wooden bar polished to a shine. Mirrors reflect globe lamps in intimate corners and walls are crammed with historic maps and watercolours. A changing all-day menu of stylish pub grub offers pumpkin soup with a cheese straw or plum-and-quince-glazed ham. The stairs up to 22 colourful new bedrooms are lined with modernist abstracts and topical prints. I stayed in an entertaining feature room with views of the old brewery from a gleaming copper bathtub.
Doubles from £90 room-only spreadeaglewandsworth.co.uk
Lord Crewe Arms, Blanchland, Northumberland
The poet Philip Larkin used to dine here, Benjamin Britten once stayed the night, WH Auden played Brahms on the piano, and a Jacobite general hid in the fireplace. The Lord Crewe Arms, once the guesthouse of a 12th-century abbey, stands in the isolated North Pennines village of Blanchland, with chickens in the churchyard and a welcoming smell of wood smoke. When I arrived after a blustery 12-mile hike from Hexham, the lantern-lit doorway and glowing windows looked like something from a folk tale. The Lord Crewe’s log fires and deep baths are a striking contrast with the wild moors outside. The elegant lunchtime menu of simple-sounding dishes such as wild mushrooms on toast or apple and blackberry crumble, champions careful cookery and flavour. The onsite candlelit pub is a vaulted medieval crypt serving Crewe Brew and other Northumberland real ales along with gourmet bar snacks.
Doubles from £204 B&B, lordcrewearmsblanchland.co.uk
Ship Inn, Elie, Fife
I came across this pub while walking the spectacular Fife coastal path with my brother. We liked the Ship so much we went back next day for another meal. I have afternoon-sunshine memories of a chilli-flecked crab linguine, a board of Scottish cheeses with quince paste, and a souffle. The changing seasonal menu now features Isle of Seil hand-dived scallops with seaweed and steak and Elie ale pie. With the sea just outside, wood-burning stoves warming the bar, and six smart bedrooms upstairs, the Ship’s popularity is no great mystery.
Doubles from £140 B&B, shipinn.scot
The Boat Inn, Penallt, Monmouthshire
On a steep, wooded bank of the River Wye, the little Boat Inn has a roaring wood burner in the flag-floored bar and a waterfall in its terraced garden. When I last visited, on a chilly February lunchtime, some shepherds were discussing how many lambs had been born that day. “You must make sure they’ve had their colostrum,” advised an older farmer, nursing a pint at the bar. Later, I crossed the impressive Victorian footbridge outside and walked along the frosty Wye valley, enjoying astonishing views and bright green shoots of wild garlic. The current menu includes smoked salmon salad, and house-made vegan hotpot, to go with local beers and ciders. My diary from the time includes a barely legible note-to-self about avoiding beers that call themselves Blinder. The upper floor of the pub is a toasty two-bedroom holiday let with kitchen-living room and riverside firepit.
From £100 a night (three-night minimum), theboatpenallt.co.uk
Inn at Ravenglass, Cumbria
With exceptional food and views across the estuary, this little waterside pub is worth booking ahead. I discovered it by chance with a friend and we ate our way through five memorably good small plates. Dishes, mostly changing specials, make thoughtful use of ingredients such as wild garlic, Herdwick mutton or Loch Fyne smoked mussels, with equally original veggie options that could include fresh herb koftas with roasties or barbecued broccoli with baba ganoush. Rooms upstairs and nearby are available through Pennington Hotels (doubles from £107 room-only). A log fire and great real ales make the Inn an unbeatable place to warm up after tramping through the woods to Muncaster Castle or along the stony shore of the Esk, with views across the water to the Lakeland fells.
facebook.com/innatravenglass
The Ship at Dunwich, Suffolk
On the cliffs above the grey North Sea, Dunwich is a tiny village with a handful of cottages. Medieval Dunwich was a busy port with a dozen inns and several churches until catastrophic floods swept away more than 400 houses. The Ship’s weathered brick walls and casement windows surround a beamed bar with a wood-burner. In winter, when the Suffolk coast is at its most dramatic, the food feels seasonally appropriate, including a black pudding scotch egg and creamy Baron Bigod cheese from up the road in Bungay, served with fig chutney. The signature lunch is haddock and chips with a pint of Adnams, brewed a couple of miles up the coast in Southwold. One great local walk leads north along the shingle beach and back through windmill-studded reedbeds.
Doubles from about £90 B&B, shipatdunwich.co.uk
Old Bridge Inn and Bunkhouse, Aviemore, Highland
It’s worth booking well ahead for lunch at the Old Bridge, 10 minutes’ walk from Aviemore station: the eclectic seasonal menu at this candlelit Cairngorms pub by the River Spey is deservedly popular. As are its wood burner, Highland antiques and exposed beams, and the walks along the loch-rich Speyside Way or through evergreen pine forests. There’s a choice of such Scottish classics as cullen skink or inventive dishes like open crab sandwiches with sea buckthorn, followed by sustainably culled venison from Cairngorms Connect, or a Buddha bowl of roasted autumn veggies and falafel. The bunkhouse next door has well-insulated dorms, en suite rooms with underfloor heating and a new self-catering kitchen.
Doubles from £60 room-only oldbridgeinn.co.uk
