The Royal Oak, Dorking

Official site of The Royal Oak - theroyaloakholmbury.co.uk

Official site of The Royal Oak - theroyaloakholmbury.co.uk

Holmbury village is spread out over quite a stretch of meandering road - the Royal Oak is just below the church which lends its name to the village, with a bit of village green in front of it, some of which was apparently fenced off in the distant past and now features rows of bench tables. The front of the pub has a sort of enclosed verandah, but once through this it feels like a regular village pub, with stone flags, a fireplace and a bar counter a few steps from the front door. Beers on the bar included two from the Felday brewery, which can be seen to one side of the pub - a sort of large, smart garden shed made from weather board. Felday Legacy was a fairly standard southern bitter, not dissimilar to Harveys Sussex Best, for example, though it wasn't in brilliant condition, which was a little disappointing. The Surrey Hills are an interesting part of the country that I had not visited before - if I find myself here again I wouldn't mind calling in here too.