Flower Pots Inn

I was delighted when my friends took me here for lunch!! The building is quaint and Quirky. Although the food is simple, it is very tasty and morish!!! They have their own brewery on site too….

The Flower Pots Inn in the village of Cheriton, near Alresford, is one of the best-preserved country pubs I’ve seen. Forget fruit machines, it’s just a couple of rooms of raw wood and - in winter - a large open fireplace that fills the place with the sweet smell of real logs burning (so much better than a pub full of cigarette smoke!).

Cheriton brewery is right on the premises so you can try several of their own beers right from the cask. I had a delicious stout when I was there and the missus had the Cheriton Pots Ale (I managed to get a sip of this too, very tasty). Lunch was simple but delicious - a lamb and apricot hotpot for me, with the biggest chunk of homemade bread I’d ever seen.

The pub soon filled with walkers on the Saturday we were there, so it’s obviously a local favourite.

They’ve got rooms if you fancy staying. They have outdoor tables and even a large tented outdoor area if you really need to smoke. There’s plenty of parking, as most country pubs do.

The Flower Pots has been in Camra’s Good Beer Guide since 2005.