The Cartwheel Inn The New Forest pub is the perfect spot for a relaxing al fresco lunch By Harriet Noble
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lichés about the countryside include: there’s dodgy phone reception, public transport can be sparse, and people who live in villages are much friendlier than city folk. Clichés they may be, but I grew up in the sticks and I know them to be true. When I visit my parents, I press the internet explorer button, and then go off to make a cup of tea while the internet slowly churns into action – that’s how long it takes. And so these clichés turned out to be true on my visit to The Cartwheel Inn in Whitsbury, in the New Forest. The pub recently reopened not too long ago after being taken over by new owners and – as this is a special New Forest issue – we thought we’d go and check it out. I am without car at the moment, so hop on the bus out of Salisbury that takes me to Fordingbridge. It is spectacularly hot and there doesn’t seem to be any buses this side of Christmas that will take me to Whitsbury. I wander around the town but am feeling the burn on my increasingly freckly shoulders and opt for a cab to take me to the pub.
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The pub looks exactly how you want a village pub to look like. It’s pretty, and old; a faded redbrick building with potted plants and wheels, of course, outside. The interior of the pub is lovely, they’ve pulled off the classic, contemporary, but still-a-village-pub look, but today has got be an eating under blue skies kind of day so I grap a table outside and sit myself down and order a beer while I have a look at the menu. I’m delighted to see there are plenty of pub classics like Ploughman’s and also lots for the carnivores and fish lovers too, like Dorset lamb, steak, smoked trout, hake and crayfish. With the weather being so hot, I am slightly disappointed there are not more big refreshing salads on the menu, but I happily opt for Sopley asparagus and crispy hens egg served with chorizo, and lamb koftas for my mains. As I wait for my food to arrive, while sipping my icecold beer, I feel an I-heart-England-moment creep upon me. There’s no traffic, no noise – just the distant sound of someone strimming a hedge and the sight of a dog having an afternoon snooze under a shady tree. I feel positively serene. Unlike some pubs, they haven’t squashed all the