With great food, local ales and comfortable boutique rooms, this Sussex village pub is hard to beat
Occupying an almost impossibly desirable position overlooking Dial Post's village green, The Crown Inn is a properly cosy country pub. Originally a 16th-century coaching inn, it was taken over 17 years ago by Penny and James Middleton Burn, who have launched it into the 21st century while losing none of its innate pubby charm. It has a lovely beamed bar with stone floors and antique rugs, mismatched furniture, and a wood burner squeezed into an ancient brick hearth in the bar and another one in the restaurant. Penny and James have also developed a big and deserved reputation for the quality of their food, and also added four comfy and beautifully appointed rooms upstairs if you want to stay over, as well as two beautifully refurbished self-catering cottages right next to the pub. And it's dog friendly! As village boozers go, it's hard to beat.
The Crown's food is as unpretentious as it is high quality, offering a pub classics menu and seasonal favourites plus a daily-changing specials board from Wednesdays to Saturdays. James is the chef, and he not only pretty much exclusively uses local farmers and other producers but also regularly forages for wild ingredients nearby. Penny oversees the pub, which has both a cosy bar and a light, bright garden room, plus a beer garden at the back and tables overlooking the village green at the front. It's patronised as much by local drinkers as diners, and is also a terrific place to stay, with four comfortable and quirky guest rooms, each individually designed to a high spec. All rooms have fast wifi, smart TVs, mini-fridges, Nespresso machines, complimentary water and homemade biscuits, plus high-quality vintage beds and bedding. En-suite bathrooms come with walk-in showers plus toiletries, and there's a family suite with two double beds accommodating four people, that has its own bathroom with a bath and shower. A continental breakfast hamper is an optional extra, delivered to your room.
For a bit more space, the Coach House cottage sleeps two adults and up to two children and comes complete with a fully equipped kitchen, a dining area, a snug-style sitting room, a family bathroom, and a bedroom upstairs in the eaves. Meanwhile, the Hayloft is a stylish bolthole for two, with a characterful beamed bedroom, a shower room, a compact but well-decked-out kitchen, and a living area. It's worth noting that parts of the bedroom require you to duck! Both properties have a private patio to relax on, when the weather plays ball.
Finally, the location is ideal for a short break from London, just off the A24 Worthing Road and reachable in a little over an hour by car. You're close to some of the loveliest scenery of the South Downs National Park, and just a 20-minute drive from the coast, plus you have the wonderful Knepp Castle Estate to visit on your doorstep, whose re-wilding project set the template for many others across the UK. In short, a perfect venue for a West Sussex break.
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