Gastro-Gnome’s Guide
SK Hutchings
Camelia Botnar Bistro
well-kept cask ales along with a hearty menu of pub favourites made in-house from local (and free-range) produce. The White Horse (Maplehurst) is a freehouse with a great range of local ales and even serves JB Cider, made locally in Maplehurst by John Batcheldor (The Orchard, Park Lane). The Camellia Restaurant at theVictorian, country house hotel, South Lodge Hotel (Brighton Rd, Lower Beeding), has been awarded 3 AA Rosettes under executive chef Lewis Hamblet for his seasonal modern European menus created with low food mileage. By the time you read this, it will have been joined by The Pass, which has been designed to allow guests to experience all the theatre of a busy restaurant kitchen while enjoying a tasting menu made from the freshest local ingredients. Duncan at The Black Horse
The Crabtree
Inn described the apple crumble at The Crab Tree (Brighton Rd, Lower Beeding) as the best he’d ever tasted, so the Gnome couldn’t resist a popping in. Chef proprietor Nick Illes and his wife were at a wine tasting in London when he visited so look out for some special additions to the wine list. The Camelia Botnar Foundation provides residential training to vulnerable young people. The trainees can learn skills including ironwork, cabinetmaking and joinery, catering, pottery, horticulture building and painting and decorating and many of the products made by the trainees are available through Camelia Botnar Homes and Gardens (Littleworth Lane, Cowfold), a five-acre nursery which is also home to the Bistro, which serves a varied and ever-changing menu of locally-sourced specials. Book now for the Christmas menu available through December. Nearby, The Union Jack Farm Shop (Henfield Rd, Cowfold) offers home-reared meat, local game, English cheeses and freerange turkeys for Christmas. The Countryman Inn (Countryman Lane, Shipley) has been under the capable stewardship of Alan Vaughan and his family since 1986. This traditional country pub with open log fires and a large restaurant has long championed the best local producers with a suppliers list that reads as a who’s who of the best of Horsham produce. It is surrounded by the Knepp Castle Estate which is in the process of conversion into a natural grazing
environment. Sussex Food Producer of the Year 2008 and The Times/Soil Association Organic Food Hero, Cocoa Loco (Hill House Farm, West Grinstead) make scrumptious brownies, chocolates and truffles from fairtrade organic ingredients. Shaun Hutchings at SK Hutchings (The High St, Partridge Green) is a top quality family butcher who supplies many of the best restaurants in the area. Home-made pies are a speciality as is the much sought-after beef from Shaun’s very own herd. Westons Farm Shop (Fulfords Rd, Itchingfield) has quadrupled in size since it first opened in 2003 and aims to bring together all the best produce from Westons Farm and the surrounding area in one convenient package. It’s also home to the recipient of the Gnome’s Most Amusing Root Vegetable Award 2008. The Burdfields have been farming in Sussex since the time of William the Conqueror, so you be right in thinking that modern descendents, Peter and Anita, would know a thing or two about crops and livestock. In addition to growing crops and raising freerange pigs and turkeys at Rectory Barn Farm in Itchingfield, the couple have brought they expertise to Billingshurst in the form of Burdfields Country Market (Mill Lane, Billingshurst).
The shop sells the farm’s own produce, home-reared free-range turkeys, pork, and a huge range of organic, local and fairtrade goods. There is also a tea room with wonderful meals, cakes and a selection of local arts and crafts. Veal has had a bad press due to images of calves kept in tiny crates and being shipped across the channel but the reality of traditional English veal is that the calves are raised naturally outside on grass and their mothers’ milk. The Gnome is a great fan of this ‘rose veal’ and thinks more people should try it. Rudgwick Organic Beef, Pork and Veal (Canfields Farm, Rudgwick) sells direct to the public and is a fine example of what cruelty-free veal rearing should be. Another place for traditionally reared meat is A & R Baileys (5 Church St,Warnham), a family butchers shop selling beef, pork, lamb free-range poultry and game along with home-made pies, sausages and burgers. The Sussex Oak at Warnham (2 Church St, Warnham) is a spacious village pub with beams, an inglenook fireplace and a large restaurant. The Gnome enjoyed a well-kept pint at the bar while perusing a large menu of good, hearty pub favourites. And finally, but well worth the wait, The Wise Old Owl Food Empor ium (Dorking Rd, Kingsfold) is a unique combination of pub, cafe, restaurant and deli has understandably attracted a lot of attention. There’s a small private dining area, perfect for a family meal and a a children’s menu is full of healthy choices rather than turkey twizzlers and the like. n
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Westons Farm Shop
Rudgwick Farm
November/December 2008