Tours undertaken include:

Wales and Liverpool

York

Black Country

National Inventory Pub Crawling Introduction

In May 2005 Andy and I ventured down to Surrey to see some old friends of mine - former Ipswich CAMRA branch secretary Chris Pitts and his partner Sally. One would naturally expect Chris to live near an excellent pub and indeed he does - the Crossways at Churt, near Farnham, which was voted Surrey and Hants Border Surrey Pub of the Year 2005 - but on this particular visit we widened our horizons to explore a few more National Inventory pubs in the South on our way there.

We took rather a circuitous route to get to Churt from Cirencester on the Friday, and stopped off via Dorset where our first stop was the Vine at Pamphill, a National Trust owned pub with a lovely flowered garden and two tiny rooms (one with an unusual wallpapered door). The bar is at different heights in each room owing to the slope of the garden, and it's a small hike out onto the road to reach the gents toilets. A pint of London Pride and a pint of Hampshire Thunderbolt here cost us £4.20 and were both perfectly drinkable.

From here we moved on to the Grade II listed Square and Compass at Worth Matravers on the scenic Isle of Purbeck, which has a lovely pair of parlours either side of a flag-stoned passageway. Unusually there is a small museum attached to the pub where we spent a pleasant half hour browsing around the local artefacts and fossils (a direct result of the whole area being 'quarry central'), whilst drinking Ringwood Dorset Gold and Bushwackers - rather more expensive here at £5.20 for the two pints. A cafe across the road provided us with more solid sustenance before we moved on to the New Forest and the Fritham Royal Oak, an odd narrow-shaped pub which is not on the National Inventory any more but is nonetheless well worth visiting after a tasteful revamp. Don't get there early as a delightful wander through the woods will get you bitten to bu****ry unless you wear long sleeves/trousers (don't ask!). I don't have a note of the prices here, but I did note that I tried Blandman's Golden Spring and Hidden Fantasy. We saw plenty of the fabled New Forest ponies wandering around on our drive to the pub.

The Harrow at Steep in Hampshire (just north of Petersfield) was our last stop of the day. This again is a Grade II listed pub; truly unspoilt, with service through hatches and loos that are not only outside but across the road! Here I tried Ringwood Best and Cheriton; no note of prices again (strange how a thirst does that sometimes). We finally made it to Churt in time for a swift couple of halves (ahem!).

On Saturday Chris ventured out with us and we made our way over to East Sussex. First stop was the Cricketers at Berwick (as the Ram at Firle had postponed its re-opening by a week). This is no longer a current "list" pub, but it now serves excellent food and the Harveys beers were in tip-top condition. Between the three of us we sampled the Mild (£2.10/pint), Best (£2.40), Armada (£2.50) and Copper Wheat (£2.60). The Cricketers has a lovely garden and we were lucky to be there on a day when we could sit outside and enjoy the sunshine.

From the Cricketers we moved on to the Grade II listed New Inn at Hadlow Down. The New Inn was, according to the National Inventory, built as a hotel-cum-pub in 1885. It looks rather run-down and anything but "new" from the outside, despite some lovely ornate engraved windows proclaiming "hotel entrance"; inside, though, we found the landlord to be very welcoming, and he was quite happy for me to take photos of the wooden bar fittings, the outside brick toilet buildings and the old price list while I drank a pint of very good ruby mild (sadly I didn't get the name of the brewery) and Chris and Andy sampled the Harveys Best - £6.60 for three pints. Two rather unusual wartime prints (of German WW2 fighter aces with their Me262 jets) hang on the end wall.

The Tudor-inspired King and Queen in Brighton was our final destination on Saturday: a huge great barn of a building with ornate stained glass windows and carved oak staircases straight out of some medieval film set (Gothic overkill was one of the more polite phrases used). The Harveys Best was in perfectly reasonable condition, although nothing special. Again, we spent some time outside here admiring the ornateness of the building and making the most of the weather (whilst avoiding the dubious charms of the "Thai Ladyboys Cabaret" show just over the road - there are times when you really don't need to see sequins!).

We only visited one pub on the Sunday, but it was a particularly good one: the unlisted White Horse Inn at Priors Dean in Hampshire (only 5 miles north west of Petersfield), otherwise known as the Pub With No Name. Here I sampled Gales HSB, Titanic Stout, No Name Strong and Gales Butser Bitter, all of which were in superb condition (a rare thing in such a "foody'"pub). The pub hosts a beer festival in June and I'd love to go there for a longer visit (so I can jot down some prices for you)...

Sophie Watson (with a bit of help from Andrew Frape)