The Ash Tree Inn, Battle

The 17th century Ash Tree Inn isn’t a pub that you would stumble across by accident as it is located down a narrow country lane that comes off Church Road at the top of Ashburnham village and then re-joins the same road at the bottom of the village. This narrow lane is called Brownbread Street and the pub is adjacent to the Brownbread Horse Rescue Centre, which I found very amusing. To the left of the pub is a gravel car park where a few large rocks have been thrown in to keep the drivers on their toes. At the rear of the pub is a grass covered area with a few picnic tables that afford nice views across the High Weald AONB in the East Sussex countryside. During my recent visit on a gorgeous Friday afternoon all of these picnic tables were being used by a mix of families, ramblers and cyclists. The side facing front entrance leads to a small seating area that is looked upon by an inglenook to the right in the front wall of the pub. In the right hand side of the pub are two separate sunken seating areas, at least one of which has another inglenook. The bar, located in the left rear, faces some seating to the left, where there is a television. This was off and I expect it only gets turned on for the Boat Race, Six Nations and World Cup. The bar supports two hand pumps that were drawing Battle Brewery’s Abbey Pale IPA and Harvey’s Best. There are also five keg fonts that were spurting Becks, Birra Moretti, Goose Island Midway IPA, Stowford Press cider and Guinness. Being a country pub in the middle of nowhere it wasn’t surprising to see that it is food led with a gastropub menu. No burgers here, but ham, egg and chips is available for £11. I found the staff to be polite. It should be noted that this pub has very restrictive opening hours so one should check before planning a visit.

A red brick, tile hung pub on a quiet road in the rolling countryside beyond Battle in East Sussex. Outside, some benches in a sun trap, inside, a central bar , with a public bar area to one end, complete with television, and a number of rooms fanning off from the other side. Exposed studwork divides the dining areas, giving a light and airy feel. We sat by the inglenook fireplace-not lit on the warmest Poppy day that I can remember, and admired the brick floor.Being lunchtime on Poppy Day, there was a good number of bemedalled veterans enjoying a drink or meal. Sometimes we are too blasé about the range of beers available:in my book there is nothing wrong with a landlord specialising in one ale, and keeping it exceedingly well. Here , for example, the landlady said there was Harveys, Harveys or Harveys. Being an irritating cove, I asked for …Harveys. I’m a great fan of Harveys Sussex Best Bitter, but it can, due to its incredible popularity in Kent and Sussex, be the victim of its own success. However, it was spot on,reminding me of when as youngsters we would travel miles to sample this nectar. There was an array of fonts and nozzles for those of less traditional tastes. As with most pubs, food is of great importance:we didn’t really want a main meal: the sausage, egg ‘n’chips was a good honest serving. We’d like to have a proper meal here one day, as it’s a good honest pub.