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.

Full BBQ tickets are just £10, so call us on 01403 741383 to book your place now. In addition to the Morris dancing, Skittles and Giant Connect 4 will be available in the garden all afternoon to add to the fun!

Sompting Village Morris

Our normal, full restaurant and bar menu will also be available all evening so if you’re not a BBQ fan, you can still order your favourite meals including Vegetarian, Pub Grub and Desserts.

To book a table for the evening, visit our online booking page or call us on 01403 741383 now, we look forward to seeing you at The Countryman Shipley, near Horsham, on Wednesday 10th August.

The walk is roughly 5 miles long and mainly flat (minus a few stiles), starting at The Countryman Pub at 10am and heading back to our country pub for a 1pm BBQ consisting of Roasted Pork, home made sausages and burgers, tandoori chicken, stuffed peppers, baked goats cheese, home grown salads and buttered new potatoes.

We will be walking through Sussex farmland, Shipley village and Knepp Park passing the Norman church, Knepp Castle, the beautiful Kneppmill Pond and then on to the ruins of the original Knepp castle. Along the way you could see Fallow Deer, Tamworth Pigs, Exmoor Ponies and Old English Longhorn Cattle so no dogs are allowed unfortunately.

Last year, 130 people turned out for the event so make sure you act now to make sure you don’t miss out! Tickets for the country pub BBQ are just £10 and it’s FREE to join the walk so call Alan on 01403 741383 to book your place now.

Making Local Food Work helps people to take ownership of their food and where it comes from by providing advice and support to community food enterprises across England. If you are involved in a community food enterprise or interested in starting one in your community, MLFW may be able to help you.

Here at the Countryman Inn, Shipley we are helping the local food network by being totally involved in creating a database of supplier information giving full traceability on all of our produce – much of it home grown – and sharing detailed information of all our suppliers and origins of all food used here at both our country pub and shop.

We periodically run visits to local country farms to see where some of our meat comes from, and we also have a barter/swap scheme whereby local amateur gardeners can exchange their produce for something else or even exchange for points that can be used for restaurant meals, bar snacks, or tickets to any of our events.

Making Local Food Work is achievable and is working well here at the Countryman Inn in Shipley.

Countryman Inn Poachers Bar New Year's Eve Fancy Dress

Happy New Year to all our customers! We hope you enjoyed the festive season.

We had fantastic fun here at your favourite country pub and restaurant, The Countryman Inn.

On New Year’s eve,  we held a fantastic bumper event where both sittings were completely booked out. We boogied to 70’s and 80’s  music provided by the excellent band, Freedom. In the Poachers Bar, we held a separate New Year fancy dress party (photo above) celebrating country pursuits throughout the ages and enjoyed a wonderful buffet. If you missed out this year, don’t worry, there is always next year, but hurry, you need to get in quick  – even though there are 355 days left, tickets are already selling like hot cakes!

We have more fun, just around the corner. Of course, it’s our famous Burns Night celebration on 25th January 2011. Enjoy a full Scottish menu, Highland Piper and music by the Falloons … OK, we know Papa Falloon is Irish, but he is brilliant and the floors will be shaking with foot tapping and dancing. For tickets, call 01403 741383. Or you can reserve a table by booking online.

We look forward to welcoming you very soon. Click here to take a look at our menus which we guarantee will tickle your taste buds!

The Countryman, Shipley raise £1480 for Chestnut Tree House

The 17th November saw our annual fund raising night for the chestnut tree hospice raise. We held an art auction and raised over £1,480. With donations still coming in we hope to exceed last year’s total of £1805. The money this year will hopefully be used towards providing a much needed high tech wheelchair.

A bit about Chestnut Tree House

Chestnut Tree House is the only children’s hospice in Sussex and cares for children and young adults from 0-19 years of age with progressive life-limiting and life-threatening illnesses from all over the county.

Completed in 2003, Chestnut Tree House provides a ‘home from home’ environment with 10 children’s bedrooms plus 8 family rooms, a wet and dry play area, computer and music rooms, a multi sensory room and hydrotherapy pool. The house is set in beautiful gardens within an area of outstanding natural beauty. It is heartbreaking when a child develops a life-limiting illness. It raises many issues, not just for the poor child, but for their loved ones as well. Chestnut Tree House provides the care and support these families so desperately need, whether practical, physical or emotional.

The Countryman Inn, pub and restaurant in Shipley, West Sussex, thinks that Chestnut Tree House is a wonderful charity and we aim to raise even more funds next year. If you want to donate to the charity, you can see their website by clicking here.

The Countryman and Central Sussex College

The Countryman has now joined ranks with Central College in Crawley and runs on site training for young chefs working through their modern apprenticeships. At the moment we are working with a keen and enthusiastic 19-year-old Aaron Steiner… possibly a name to look out for in the future ??

If you would like to sample some of Aaron’s fine cuisine, come on down to The Countryman, country pub and restaurant near Horsham in West Sussex. Call us on 01403 741383. From traditional Sunday roast, to vegetarian cuisine to Christmas dinner! You can enjoy a wonderful meal in a homely setting with fantastic views. We look forward to welcoming you soon.

Celebrate Mid Summers Day at The Countryman pub and restaurant in West Sussex

Come down to The Countryman pub and restaurant in West Sussex on Thursday 24th June to Midsummers Day!

Enjoy the:

• ‘Bluegrass’ band in the garden: Bluegrass music is an American Folk style with Fiddles, Mandolin, Banjos & Bass… Just think of The Beverly Hillbillies!
• BBQ all evening
• Guided walk around the Knepp Estate starting from the Countryman at 5.30pm, and finishing back at the pub.
• Only £10 per person

More about Mid Summers Day, courtesy of Mysterious England: The festival is primarily a Celtic fire festival, representing the middle of summer, and the shortening of the days on their gradual march to winter. Midsummer is traditionally celebrated on either the 23rd or 24th of June, although the longest day actually falls on the 21st of June. The importance of the day to our ancestors can be traced back many thousands of years, and many stone circles and other ancient monuments are aligned to the sunrise on Midsummer’s Day. Probably the most famous alignment is that at Stonehenge, where the sun rises over the heel stone, framed by the giant trilithons on Midsummer morning.

Find out more about Blue Grass Music by clicking here.

So what are you waiting for? Call 01403 741383 to book your ticket.

Magog Morris Dance at Christs Hospital – Come and see them at The Countryman on Tuesday 25th May at 6.30pm

Believe it or not, another bank holiday (31st May) is just round the corner, and to celebrate the May Festival we are holding a special event. Yippee!

Come to The Countryman pub and restaurant in West Sussex and celebrate May festival of dance on Tuesday 25th May at 6.30pm in our famous garden. We will get the garden party going with Pimms, a hog roast, real ales and a giant Paella! OK, we know that Paella isn’t actually a traditional English dish. Think of this as a cosmopolitan evening at a traditional country pub!

Did you know?

A morris dance is an English choreographed folk dance accompanied by music. The morris dancers use props including bells, sticks, swords, handkerchiefs and tobacco pipes.

Morris dancing dates back to the 15th century, and has been popular to day in both the UK plus other countries including the United States, Australia, Canada, Cyprus, France and New Zealand. There is even the Artic Morris Group in Helskinki and Stockholm.

It is refreshing to know that English tradition is still popular abroad.

We look forward to seeing you at The Countryman very soon!

Alan Vaughan on the Jo Talbot Show, Radio Sussex

Catch up with Alan on BBC radio Sussex and Radio Surrey on ‘Dig It’ with Jo Talbot on Sunday 25th April.  Alan’s subject is called “From the plot to the plate” and it is on between 11.30am-12pm. This show is on BBC iPlayer, so if you miss it, Click here to log on.

You can meet Alan in person if you come on down to The Countryman! Experience fine country food, ales and wine at this beautiful West Sussex pub.