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We’ve all visited a village pub as an out-of-towner where it’s like you’ve strolled into an old wild-west saloon. The clock stops, the beer freezes mid-pour, the fingers twitch on the holsters – or at least, the mobile phones to message the neighbourhood WhatsApp group to say there’s ‘another one of them in today’. Surrey’s The Merry Harriers is emphatically not that pub. You can walk in positively reeking of urban heatwave trauma and Pret coffee and still be assured of the warmest imaginable welcome.
This much-loved spot manages to be all things to all people: a village pub that prides itself on being a home-from-home for its tight local community, and a dreamy bolthole for Londoners looking to unwind under its 600-year-old oak beams and enjoy the walks and bucolic air of this little dell in the rolling Surrey countryside. It’s easy to see why it’s so beloved: there’s a ‘can do’ ethos, a gentle ambition to do more with the land around the pub, including raising the landlord’s mum’s rams and other livestock, and the kitchen is elite. It’s very Paul McCartney and Wings circa 1971, only with elegant design touches, all the mod cons and the odd charmingly quirky tradition – like the Saturday afternoon meat raffle (£1 to enter). And they do Skips and Quavers at the bar. You have to love that, too.
What are the rooms like at The Merry Harriers?
There are four rooms in the pub itself, all with low beams, all on the cosy side. The six garden rooms are newly refurbished and further from the pre-last orders hubbub. Room six opens out onto the countryside beyond and has an outdoor hot tub that overlooks the meadow. The rams may swing by to say hello.
I stayed in one of the five shepherd’s huts across the road where a ‘no swimming’ warns off anyone planning a dip in the fish pond and fields stretch off into the distance. It was love at first sight: the caravan-style huts have downy rolltop beds with picturesque vistas, so you can lie there and imagine you’re John Constable on a minibreak. The telly sits off to one side – no pulling focus from the view – and comes with Netflix, while the cute bathroom packs an unexpectedly powerful shower. For the winter months, there’s giant marshmallows to roast in the firepit outside. It’s hygge on wheels.
The pub recommends emailing ahead to discuss all the rates and options – they’ll be happy to tailor a stay according to your needs.
What are the best things to eat and drink at The Merry Harriers?
Put it this way, my lifelong quest to find the world’s crispiest potato is at an end. You won’t find chips on the menu, but these golden crunchy beauties could be the ultimate side – especially paired with the rich roast chicken, white wine gravy and little pot of crème fraîche (serves two for £40)
Head chef (and co-owner) Sam Fiddian-Green brings a farm-to-table, nose-to-tail ethos to the dining room – which basically means loads of local ingredients and unpretentious but seriously classy British-with–a-twist food. Anything that Sam’s mum doesn’t raise and graze at her nearby farm is sourced from local suppliers, including wines from Surrey’s Greyfriars Vineyard. The Merry Harriers is ‘a pub, rather than a restaurant pretending to be a pub’ but really, it’s both. The drinkers’ bar is buzzy and fun; the dining room is the elegant but informal kind of relaxing. The menu changes daily – in fact, it changes nightly, because if, say, the chalk stream trout or glazed lamb shoulder sells out, they’ll print up entirely new menus.
Breakfast goes pretty hard around here too. The bacon, egg and sausage bap looks like a work of art and will provide necessary fuel for any of the local walks.
What are the facilities like at The Merry Harriers?
All the rooms come with flatscreen tellies, luxe toiletries (Wildsmith and Plum And Ashby), DAB radios and lots of homely touches. In the shepherd’s huts you’ll find Smeg kettles, mini fridges and wood-fired stoves. The bathrooms in the bigger garden rooms are a work of art.
What’s the area like around The Merry Harriers?
The pub sits in a little hamlet that’s also home to an artisanal community with its own gin distillery, a gallery and a pair of furniture shops. This is a Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and there are dozens of memorable cycle and walking routes to get stuck into. Jane Austen’s house is 30 minutes’ drive away in Hampshire, while the historical Waverley Abbey, once used in 28 Days Later and Hot Fuzz, is a fun trip for movie buffs. Vann Garden, a couple of miles away, is a horticulturist’s dream.
DETAILS
Address: Hambledon Road, Godalming, Surrey, GU8 4DR
Price: rooms start at £120/night
Closest transport: It’s a five-minute taxi from Witley Station. 70 minutes by train from Waterloo.