/">News From The CountryMan Inn

On Thursday 9th February, The Countryman Inn will be hosting a charity ‘Spice Night’ in support of the new charity ‘My New Hair‘, just like we did in March 2011. Last years event was a huge success and we want to make this years even better, raising even more money for this fantastic charity.

For those of you that don’t know, ‘My New Hair’ is a charity which provides public advice, and supports a national network of independent salons and professionals who provide wig styling services for those suffering from cancer and medical hair loss. Please visit their website for more information and to support this fantastic cause.

This years ‘Spice Night’ will consist of a 3 courses with Spicy Starters, a Curry Buffet and some exotic Desserts.The Buffet will consist of a variety of different curries including Vegetable Curries, Goan Fish Curry, Thai Green Curry, and the world’s favourite Tikka Masala. There will also be a selection of Noodles and snack ‘Street Food’ from Vietnam & Indonesia on offer.

Don’t worry if you can’t handle very spicy food though, we have created a menu for the evening that has gentle mild dishes to tantalise the taste buds through to spicy hot dishes to challenge the serious curry connoisseur.

Tickets for this event at The Countryman Inn, Shipley are priced at £25 per person for the 3 course meal with ALL proceeds going towards much needed funds for this new charity.

If you don’t fancy a 3 course meal, then you can always try our fantastic snack/starter option; Vietnamese Spicy Chicken Salad – Shredded chicken served with a mix of fresh coriander, mint & lime finished with sliced red chillies & crushed peanuts.

Whether you can make the evening or not, any donations and sponsorships are welcome, so please help ‘My New Hair’ out as much as possible. To book a table for the night, or to make a donation, please call Alan on 01403 741383.

The Countryman Inn celebrated Burns Night on Wednesday and it was a brilliant night for all concerned. We thought we would write about the evening to give you an idea of how much fun it was, and then one of our customers sent us a glowing report on the evening that we felt it would be best sharing that, so here it is:

“Dear Alan,

I feel I must write to you about last night at the Countryman.

We had such an enjoyable evening. It was my husband’s birthday and I had booked a table for four hoping that it would be a lovely treat to celebrate.

The atmosphere was lively and friendly, your waitresses were efficient and well organised. The menu was just right – and your chef had produced an outstanding meal.
We have had haggis many times over the years and it is usually a fairly heavy solid meal but your chef’s inspirational haggis timbale was totally delicious. We loved the food and ate far too much!”

“The piper was superb – inviting requests from the diners and performing throughout the evening

The Falloons…. well what can I say? Brilliant musicianship, with fun and ribaldry…… provoking audience participation ranging from The Gay Gordons ( ? ) Greek dancing and so on.
We loved watching your hard working waitresses dancing a reel to the music and laughing with the fun of it all, then calmly stopping as they continued clearing tables.

Congratulations to yourself for organising such a wonderful event, as well as memorising the Scottish verses and proclamations.

A lovely evening. Thank you.”

The Countryman Pub would like to extend it’s thanks to everyone that attended the evening and made it what it was. It was great fun and we always look forward to our big events and this has left us wanting the next one to come around quickly!

To come in and visit us, call us on 01403 741383 or book a table online.

We did promise we would shed light on who exactly Robert Burns was and why we celebrate him every single year, so here is a quick history lesson from The Countryman Inn – we’re not just a Sussex country pub you know!

Robert Burns (1759-1796) was the eldest of seven siblings and was born into a farming family in Scotland. Despite spending his youth working his father’s farm, he was well read, due to his father’s insistence who employed a tutor for Robert and his younger brother Gilbert.

At the age of just 15, Burns started writing to find a counter-balance to his work on the farm and at this age he wrote “My Handsome Nell” a poem about the other things in his life, such as Scotch and Women.

When his father died, Robert and his brother became partners in the farm but Robert wasn’t interested in labouring in the farm, more so in the ‘romantic nature’ of poetry and women. He had already in fact, had some misadventures with the ladies leaving him with several illegitimate children. He aimed to leave Scotland for the West Indies to pursue the life he dreamt of.

However, at the point of leaving the farm, his poetry collection “Poems- Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect – Kilmarnock Edition” was published and received great acclaim. This fact, coupled with his pride of parenthood left him to stay in Scotland.

Robert Burns then spent the rest of his life as a celebrity, and contributed to numerous songs such as James Johnston’s “Scot’s Musical Museum” and George Thomson’s “Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs.” In all, more than 400 of Burns’ songs are still in existence.

He died aged 37 of heart disease exacerbated by the hard manual work he undertook when he was young. His death occurred on the same day as his wife Jean gave birth to his last son, Maxwell. On the day of his burial more than 10,000 people came to watch and pay their respects.

So now, Scots both at home and abroad celebrate Robert Burns with a supper, where they address the haggis, pamper the ladies and drink whisky -  a true reflection of the man himself.

Well, there you have it, now you know who Robert Burns is and why we celebrate him, why not come along and celebrate with us. The cost of the four course meal is just £35 per person, which of course includes all of the entertainment for the evening, so make sure you book your table now before we sell out. Call us on 01403 741383 or book online.

On Wednesday 25th March, The Countryman Inn, Shipley (near Horsham) will be celebrating Burns Night, in the only way that we know how to, in style!

Robert Burns

In what has become a legendary annual event at The Countryman Pub, there will be entertainment in the form of a highland piper, a Papa Falloon Band and of course, a four course Scottish menu.

On the menu this year we have classic dishes such as Haggis, Cockie Leekie and Tipsy Laird, alongside old favourites such as Smoked Salmon and Highland Cobblers. The cost of the four course meal is just £35 per person, which of course includes all of the entertainment for the evening, so make sure you book your table now before we sell out. Call us on 01403 741383 or book online.

For those of you who don’t know what Burns Night is all about, check back on The Countryman Blog on Friday where we will explain all about Robert Burns and why we celebrate him every year!

The Countryman Inn, Shipley, would like to wish all of it’s followers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

We have had another excellent year with all sorts of fun events and celebrations at The Countryman and we would like to thank everybody for their continued support and business.

Don’t forget, we have breakfast and brunch specials on Boxing Day and New Years Day as well as our year showpiece, the New Years Eve Gala Dinner. Remember to phone us now on 01403 741383 to book your table as we only have a limited few available.

We also have a few ‘Inbetweener’ events with Curry and Noodle nights on the 28th and 29th December for those of you that don’t want to be cooking over the holidays and are fed up of Roast Turkey!

Have a fantastic and festive holiday and we look forward to seeing you in the New Year.

Merry Christmas from The Countryman Inn

The Countryman Inn, Shipley (near Horsham) is gearing up for 2012 with preparations for their New Years Eve Gala Dinner. The dinner is split into two sittings, with an earlybird discount given to those in the first sitting, where tables must be cleared by 9pm. This first sitting is ideal for those that wish to see the new year in at home.

For those of you that want to see the new year in at The Countryman, the later sitting will be ideal for you, but spaces are filling up fast and we are now down to limited availability, please call us on 01403 741383 to book a table now and ensure you don’t miss out. The menu is available to view here.

The entertainment for the evening will be provided by ‘Let’s be Frank’, a Rat Pack tribute band with tributes to Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jnr. They are an excellent tribute act and we guarentee you will enjoy them, they will provide the perfect start to 2012, here at The Countryman Inn, Shipley!

For those of you that like a relaxing start to Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, we are also offering our breakfast and brunch specials this year, so give us a ring on 01403 741383 to book your table for those.

Christmas bookings at The Countryman Inn, Shipley (near Horsham) are coming in thick and fast and we now only have spaces left for small groups and tables so make sure to get your booking in now to avoid disappointment.

Using the very best of local and Countryman grown produce, The Countryman Pub has created a fantastic festive menu which includes vegetarian options alongside the traditional Roast Turkey dinner. The full menu can be seen here.

Price includes crackers and table decorations

The Countryman Inn chefs are extremely versatile as well and are more than happy to cater for special dietary requirements such a coeliacs or nut and dairy allergies, so please don’t let a dietary restriction ruin your Christmas meal, just ask us and we’ll make sure you get the meal you deserve.

Priced extremely reasonably at £20 for two courses and £25 for three courses, you don’t want to miss out, so make sure you call us on 01403 741383 to book now! The price includes table decorations and Christmas Crackers, and for larger parties entertainment can be arranged from £200 depending upon availability.

We hope to see you soon at The Countryman, Shipley, best wishes to everyone over the festive period!

On Sunday 4th December, The Countryman Inn, Shipley (near Horsham) have arranged a meeting of the Morgan 3-Wheeler Club at The Countryman.

We are expecting between 40 and 50 vintage Morgan 3-Wheelers on display in the car park during the morning providing a fantastic photo opportunity of these amazing and unusual original cars.

If you are interested in seeing these cars in action, get along to The Countryman Inn on Sunday morning to take a look and while your here, why not pop in for a proper Sunday roast in a cosy Country Pub? Check out our menus for our other alternatives, but whatever you decide on, be sure to book in advance!

Taken from Morgan 3-Wheeler Facebook Page - Click on the image to visit

The Countryman Inn, Shipley, held it’s annual fundraising night on the 16th November and has raised an incredible £1000 so far with donations still flooding in. The event, in aid of the Lady Sarah Chestnut Tree Hospice Fund was hugely successful and The Countryman Inn cannot express their gratitude to all involved enough!

With the buffet a complete sell-out as it has been in previous years, the evening was always likely to raise a large sum of money, but the ever popular Gary Brumwell managed to raise some excellent bids on the Art and Curious auction. Some of the brilliant items donated to The Countryman Inn for auction included a Victorian long handled back scratcher and a unique mulled wine maker. Amongst the biggest sellers were a fantastic wicker picnic basket and an original oil painting of the Crawley and Horsham Foxhounds, raising £50 and £100 respectively.

As per usual, the last prize to go in the raffle was a recurring entry; a bottle of Czechoslovakian sweet raisin wine which has made an appearance in the raffles for at least the last 8 years and will more than likely be back next year!

Thanks to everyone that helped make the evening a massive success, your generosity is greatly appreciated.

On Wednesday November 16th, The Countryman Inn, Shipley, will be hosting it’s annual fund raising evening for the Chestnut Tree House Hospice. This event has been a sell-out every year and we expect this year to be no different with fantastic support for this amazing charity always high.

The Chestnut Tree House is the only childrens hospice in Sussex and cares for children and young adults from 0-19 years of age with progressive, life-limiting and threatening illnesses from all over the country. The hospice costs over £2 million per year to run. Families are not charged for their care and the hospice receives very little government funding so it relies almost entirely on the generosity, help and support of the people of Sussex.

For more information on the Chestnut Tree House, visit their website at http://www.chestnut-tree-house.org.uk

The event at The Countryman Pub consists of a social evening and buffet with all the profits going to the charity as well as an art auction and raffle with prizes donated by various businesses in the local area.

To get involved, please contact us on 01403 741383.

Chestnut Tree House (2008) from St Barnabas Hospices on Vimeo.