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Your support makes all the difference.The only problem with the countryside is that it's in the country, and getting there involves a lot of effort. Or so Londoners think. Here are five places, not too terribly far outside the M25, to revive the soul on an away-day
KENT
No beaten brass, no hanging baskets, no shops with Victorian junk: the Royal Native Oyster Stores, The Horsebridge, Whitstable (0227 276856) strips away the South-coast frou-frou laid on by heritage merchants in favour of Gallic charm. A beachfront warehouse, it has been converted with knockabout grace, so gingham cloths flutter on warped wooden refectory tables and one of the waitresses might park her bicycle in the dining room. English families in rugby shirts and Marks & Spencer jumpers suddenly look gloriously French as they tuck into oysters, steaming plates of mussels and simply fried fish, and toss back cheap Chablis on a Sunday afternoon. Service is chaotic, or, in the words of one of the young owners, "slow when we're busy".
Open Tues-Sun, lunch and dinner. Approx £15. Major credit cards
WILTSHIRE
The simple country pub-restaurant may be every chef's dream, but precious few achieve it. It requires a balancing act, in which local drinkers are not affronted by the fancification of their boozer and gourmets are not sniffy about florid drinkers. The George & Dragon, High Street, Rowde, near Devizes (0380 723053) pulls it off with cheery staff, decent beer at the central bar and a blackboard menu listing simple classics: fried squid with butter and lemon, cheese souffls, salmon fishcakes that are crispy outside, light and moist within, and served with hollandaise.
Three-course set lunch £10, or la carte with a nice chenin blanc from the Loire, £20-£25 per person. Open for lunch and dinner Tue-Sat. Major credit cards (except Amex) and Switch
There might be a hotel with a sillier name than Toxique, 187 Woodrow Road, Melksham (0225 702129), but I haven't heard of it. Set in a fine old house with a rather lovely French-style front garden, the place itself has an artsy, mildly pixillated charm: there is no reception, new arrivals tend to find the owner (or vice-versa). Rooms are airy, simple and assembled with curative escapism in mind: there may be a bath the size of a pond, but no television. At mealtimes, it becomes clear that locals regard it less as an hotel and more as cult restaurant. The cooking, done by one of the owners, Helen Bartlett, is playful and idiosyncratic, with the slam-dunk flavours of the Mediterranean and Orient. Among the dishes, one might encounter lemongrass soup with coriander and chilli dumplings or scallop salad with chicory, leeks and orange.
Three-course dinner £26.50 includes the works: service, VAT and coffee. Open dinner Wed-Sat, lunch Sun, and other times for groups by prior arrangement. Dinner, B&B £124 for two. Major credit cards
SUFFOLK
There are few more interesting Americans in Britain than Carla Carlisle: she is a Sixties radical who contracted leukaemia while trying to organise Californian petro-chemical workers against the Vietnam War, waitressed to pay for her chemo-therapy, was taken up by the inspired American cooks who put together Chez Panisse in Berkeley, moved to Paris as a journalist, studied wine-making in Burgundy, married an English gentleman farmer and began making wine near Bury St Edmunds. Here, since planting the vineyards in 1990, she has made a stunningly good Auxerrois (a floral, almost Alsatian- style white wine) and opened a vineyard restaurant called the Leaping Hare Cafe, Wyken Hall, near Bury St Edmunds (01359 250287). On fine days, tables outdoors overlook a field where Jacob sheep graze; there is plenty of space for children to race around, and a waterbowl outside for dry dogs. Inside, fresh and lightly sophisticated food is served with verve, be it a zingy beetroot soup, or chicken cooked over vine leaves, and a giftshop to the side is a shade twee, but stocks the wines. Meals from £10-£30. Open Thur, Fri and Sun 10am-6pm, and dinner Fri
Ruth Watson used to run a country house hotel, but chucked in helipads and room service in order to run a pub restaurant, the Fox & Goose, Fressingfield (0379 586247). The result is the sort of idealised place one tends to see in films rather more frequently than real life. In fact, finding it at all, given winding Suffolk lanes posted with deliberately illegible signs, is a feat. But the food is simply terrific. Salads are sharp, green-green leaves grown locally, fish and chips are served on copies of the Eastern Daily Times, and the zingy sorbet that tastes of lychees might really be elderflower. Stay nearby or bring a teetotal driver: the wines should be drunk.
Open lunch and dinner Wed-Sun. Cash and cheques only. Lunch approx £15- £20, dinner £30
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