The Ferry Inn, Tenterden

Not much has been available for refreshment on the Saxon Shore Way. You can imagine how delighted I was to find this very remote pub (next to the Reading Sewer and on a quiet country lane) open at 11am on a Tuesday Morning. Beautiful front patio. I can see from the reserved signs they were putting out that most trade comes from dining. The Harvey's Sussex Best was also in fine condition.

Fine old inn on the country lane connecting Appledore with the Isle of Olney, long since connected by a small bridge rather than the former boat. Partly opened-out inside to leave a two-part bar and dining area, with another part of the restaurant up a few steps at the back, and all very traditional. Unsurprisingly, all booked out on Easter Monday lunchtime (apart from a few overflow tables in the rustic side barn), although I found a spot at one of the wooden tables at the front (as the reservation was for a bit later). I also found all four handpumps in use, offering the 'house' (Goachers) Olney Ale (£4.10), Doom Bar, Harvey's and Cellar Head's Session Pale.

This is very much a country pub basically in the middle of nowhere on Romney Marsh. It has a dedicated car park, as so many country pubs all have, quite a lot of outside seating at the front, and a secret garden at the back (well, you can’t see it from the road, and I didn’t know it was there until I saw it at the back after exiting the gents). Inside it’s got an attractive timber framed fireplace on the left, and a further one on the right, with a handful of nice tables and chairs in front of the bar counter, with additional standard seating up a couple of steps on the left. It majors on food, as these sort of “destination” country pubs usually have to do. Food was a tad on the expensive side, with main courses around the £14 mark. A “side” of fries or onion rings was £3.50. There were four ales on - Doom Bar; Harvey's Sussex Best, Cellar Head Single Hop Ale (unfined); and Oxney Ale, a 3.8% beer brewed by Goachers. I really enjoyed my lunchtime visit sitting outside in the sun enjoying my pint of Oxney Ale.

The pub is much as described by Wittenden (below), so I'll just mention that the house beer Oxney Ale is now brewed by Goachers, with Harveys Sussex Best and Doom Bar still apparently regulars on the bar. A guest at the time of our visit was Good Health from Goody Ales in Herne. The weather being fine we sat in the garden to the rear, with the pleasant but unattractively named Reading Sewer trickling by. A longer session would have been nice, but that would have involved the services of a non-drinking driver, and although I was driving, I'm not a non-drinker. Date of visit: 31st August 2016