Tales from the riverbank
Hampshire's Peat Spade Inn serves excellent food and
is popular with locals and visitors. Its owners tell
David Hancock about achieving a perfect balance
Following months of searching for their "perfect country inn" in Hampshire, Andrew Clarke and Lucy Townsend snapped up the Peat Spade in August 2005. The couple immediately spotted the immense potential of the striking, red-brick and gabled Victorian pub, overlooking a peaceful lane and idyllic thatched cottages in the Test Valley village of Longstock, yards from its famous trout stream.
Their vision was to create an informal inn, offered a relaxing atmosphere, space for local drinkers, proper pub food and comfortable bedrooms that would appeal to the shooting parties and fishing folk who often looked for accommodation in the valley.
Until their arrival, the Peat Spade was more restaurant than pub, with an atmosphere far from conducive to locals wishing to enjoy a pint. On hearing that both Andrew and Lucy had worked as chefs at Winchester's Hotel du Vin and enjoyed illustrious early cooking careers at Claridges, Le Gavroche, Marco Pierre White's Canteen and Quo Vadis restaurants, some locals wondered whether their village pub would become a restaurant and maybe even begin to resemble Hotel du Vin.
Encouraging the locals
But their fears proved unfounded. Andrew says: "We encouraged the locals, big time - the first thing we did when we arrived was to knock on all the doors, inviting villagers for drinks on our opening night. We attended parish council meetings, informed villagers of our plans to close and refurbish the pub and kept them updated throughout the closure".
The couple have extended the bar, removing space formerly reserved for tables, to create a locals' drinking area. Clarke adds: "The Peat Spade is their local pub and we want some characters to use the bar. In winter, local trade will become our bread and butter."
Naturally, with Clarke's culinary background as a Hotel du Vin head chef, high-quality pub food drives the business and the pub is becoming busier with diners. While stressing the need to book, Lucy keeps one "village table" available. She says: "That table has proved so popular that locals compete for it. I keep it free until about 8pm and only let it go if no villager phones up to reserve it. Someone from the village is usually dining at that table."
Proper pub food
The couple's desire to own a pub in Hampshire was fuelled by reading the Gastropub Cookbook, written by Diana Henry and Jason Lowe, while they were living and working in Australia.
"The cookbook featured a few of our friends and when we returned home to England we decided that rather than opening a pretentious restaurant we would take on a pub and cook easier food - proper pub food, cooked from fresh local ingredients," explains Clarke. "Pubs should be the backbone of good English cooking, doing classic dishes with seasonal ingredients - and we should be proud of that."
Clarke sources as much local produce as possible, including free-range pork from Greenfields Farm near Andover and fruit and game from the Leckford estate, while villagers exchange herbs, apples and vegetables from their allotments for a pint. The daily-changing menu lists some pub classics. "Fish and chips is a great English dish and we sell loads. I've added brawn to the menu, and my own version of prawn cocktail, which was really popular," says Andrew.
He adds: "Fancy food scares people into only coming in once a month or on a special occasion. We have people who eat here four nights a week and stockbrokers down from London, who are relaxed and happy to tuck into sausage and mash with a decent glass of wine.
"Achieving what we set out to do here is a great feeling!
ON THE MENU
Starters
Sardines, marinated fennel, basil oil (£5.50)
Rabbit rillette, pickled cherries, toasted sourdough (£6)
Mains
Whole lemon sole, preserved lemons, capers and parsley (£15.50)
Spatchcocked baby chicken, tomatoes and sweetcorn (£12.90)
Peat Spade fish pie (£13.50)
Greenfield's free-range sausage and mash, shallot gravy (£10.50)
Puddings
Raspberry fool, shortbread (£5.50)
English cheese plate and quince paste (£6.50)
Classy fishing inn
The Test is one of the world's finest trout-fishing rivers and the crystal-clear chalk stream is a short stroll away. Since the pub reopened in March 2006, its six new stylishly-decorated bedrooms have proved very popular with fishing folk. And as autumn approaches, the rooms and private dining facilities are also finding favour with local shooting parties.
From day one, the plan was to transform the Peat Spade into a classic fishing inn - a smaller, less formal version of Devon's famous Arundel Arms. Lucy can arrange fly- fishing at a number of rivers within a few miles' radius, and professional instruction and guides are provided on request. She's happy to meet particular needs, including full riverside catering or a Peat Spade hamper of goodies.
Andrew and Lucy have teamed up with a local proprietor to build an on-site fishing shop at the inn. From this "outpost" it is possible to hire a chalkstream outfit, purchase flies, floats and lines and use the repair service. The inn's fish-smoking service works in partnership with a nearby smokery.
Lucy has arranged a "Country Day" at the inn in December and invited all the local ghillies and estate managers for drinks and nibbles to show them what's on offer. With such a impressive fishing package already in place, the Peat Spade's second summer has all the hallmarks of a resounding success.
