Eating out around Midhurst

This corner of West Sussex punches well above its weight for food. The pattern is old and happy: market town at the centre, a ring of estate villages around it, and in nearly every village a pub that has been feeding travellers for three or four centuries and has lately learned to cook rather well. What follows is not a directory — places change hands and chefs move on — but the short list we find ourselves repeating to guests, plus some honest advice about how to use it.

Midhurst itself has a good spread of cafés, delis and restaurants along North Street and through the old town — enough choice that a wet afternoon is no hardship. The grande dame is the Spread Eagle, a coaching inn dating in part from 1430 and one of the oldest in England, all sloping floors, oak beams and inglenooks; come for dinner or, on a cold day, afternoon tea by the fire. A mile up the road at Easebourne, the Cowdray Farm Shop and Café is our standard answer for lunch and for provisioning a cottage: the shop sells beef, lamb and venison raised on the estate you can see from the window, along with local cheese, bread and beer, and the café does generous breakfasts and lunches daily. If you are self-catering, it is the single most useful shop in the district.

The real glory of eating out here, though, is the country pub, and four within an easy drive have earned their reputations:

• The Duke of Cumberland Arms, Henley — a tiny 16th-century pub clinging to a hillside north of Midhurst, with terraced gardens, spring-fed ponds and a view across the Weald that makes the first pint taste better. Deservedly famous; book.
• Noah's Ark Inn, Lurgashall — a 16th-century pub facing the village cricket green, which in summer gives you the full England-in-miniature experience with your roast. The Sunday lunch has a serious local following.
• The Three Horseshoes, Elsted — a proper unspoilt downland pub west of Midhurst whose garden looks straight up at the wall of the South Downs. Made for the end of a ridge walk.
• The Halfway Bridge, Lodsworth — a 17th-century inn on the A272 halfway to Petworth, polished but relaxed, notably dog-friendly, and perfectly placed after a day at Petworth House.

Beyond these, nearly every village along the Rother valley and under the Downs — Lodsworth, Lurgashall, Elsted, Harting and their neighbours — keeps a pub worth a detour, and part of the pleasure of a week here is finding your own.

One firm piece of advice: book ahead and check opening hours before you set out. These are small country kitchens — many close on Monday or Tuesday, some stop food between lunch and dinner, and Sunday lunch at the popular places is often fully booked days in advance. During Goodwood's big weeks (the Festival of Speed in July, Glorious Goodwood at the turn of July and August, the Revival in September) every table for miles is spoken for, so book early or embrace the quiet places. It is always worth a phone call; a pub's website and its reality do not always agree.

Some of our favourite meals here never involve a table cloth. Build a picnic at the farm shop and carry it up onto the Downs or out to the heaths; time a pub lunch as the hinge of a long walk; or bring supper back to the cottage and light the fire — we sell bundles of estate-grown kindling for exactly this purpose. A warm hearth, local sausages and the day's bird list to argue over: not the worst way to end an evening in Sussex.