Prices from:
£110 per night
Refurbished and remodelled in 2013, the Greyhound on the Test backs on to the River Test in Stockbridge and the smart riverside garden is one of only a handful to be found along its length. Former Hotel du Vin chef and much loved and respected local pub operator Lucy Townsend took on this 15th-century building in Stockbridge, England’s fly-fishing capital, and set about transforming it into a civilised country inn with passion and panache. She revamped the heavily beamed interior, adding a proper bar in the intimate and informal parlour, with its head-cracking beams, roaring fire in the huge inglenook, upholstered chairs, flickering candles on scrubbed pine tables and its warm, sophisticated grey décor. Equally inviting is the open-plan dining room next door, where you’ll find wooden floors, more beams, bold artwork and simple tables topped with quality cutlery and glassware. Rooms upstairs received a stylish makeover and three high-spec (Leet) rooms, created in an adjoining cottage, were opened in April 2015.
Children are very welcome, z-beds can be provided if they are joining their family. There’s no children’s menu but smaller portions are available.
Dogs can stay overnight, but are not allowed in the restaurant, although they can join their owners if they dine in the bar area.
Blazing braziers warm the sheltered rear courtyard on cooler evenings. Follow the pergola-edged path to the glorious riverside garden, where you’ll find teak tables & chairs and gorgeous views across the Test Valley. Through the latch gate is the fishermen’s hut on the banks of the Test and access to the half-mile fishing beat owned by the Inn. Residents have access to the hut if not being used by fishermen.
Summer jazz evenings in the courtyard; monthly wine dinners with Wine Utopia in Stockbridge.
What’s the Damage?
10 doubles £110-£220;
single from £80
What Else?
Gongs
Waitrose Good Food Guide; Michelin Pub of the Year; AA 4 Star & 2 Rosettes
Quirky 16th-century character meets contemporary chic in the seven warm and inviting upstairs rooms, reached via a flight of creaky stairs, and in the three stunning new Leet rooms created in an adjoining cottage in 2015. Cosy and comfortable, with a smart country-home feel, the inn rooms are painted in pastel hues with splashes of colour from soft throws and scatter cushions on king-size beds, and bold artwork on the walls. Fat lamps, patterned rugs, auction antique furnishings, thick feather duvets and pillows, fresh coffee and home-made cookies, books and country magazines and Lucy’s welcome detail touches complete the homely picture. Bang up-to-date bathrooms boast walk-in showers and Noble Island toiletries. Why not splash out and book one of the gorgeous new Leet rooms and feel really pampered with Ralph Lauren beds, rich fabrics and furnishings, Bose multi-media systems, mini-bar (no extra charge for drinks) and big bathrooms with gorgeous features tiles, trendy washbasins, walk-in showers, and a deep roll-top tub to sink into. Some look out over Stockbridge High Street, others over the garden and River Test; one (Leet 2) has its own courtyard seating.
Honesty bar & telephone on the landings; Peaberry Coffee (roasted in Hampshire); Noble Isle bathroom products; Inclusive mini-bar (fresh milk, juices, beer & wine) in Leet Rooms; Ralph Lauren beds & feather duvets and pillows; under floor heating in Leet rooms.
Smart TVs & Bose Bluetooth multi-media systems in Leet rooms.
Home-made muesli with milk or yoghurt; banana bread; Greenfields Farm Full English; roast smoked haddock with spinach and poached egg; smoked trout with scrambled egg.
What’s the Damage?
10 doubles £110-£220;
single from £80
What Else?
Gongs
Waitrose Good Food Guide; Michelin Pub of the Year; AA 4 Star & 2 Rosettes
Chris Heather stepped up from Sous Chef to Head Chef in early 2015 when Neil Cooper went freelance and became Operations Chef for Lucy’s new Wilds Catering Company. Both share Lucy’s vision for the Greyhound’s extensive modern menu, which offers something for everyone, travels the world for inspiration and works with the seasons, utilising the best local produce available. Choose from a substantial snack of Dorset crab or devilled kidneys on toast, a starter plate of seared scallops, black pudding, Jerusalem artichoke, pancetta and parmesan, share a fish platter or a rack of lamb, order a rib-eye steak with watercress, chips and Café de Paris butter, or chargrilled squid with curried chick pea, chorizo, romesco and lime from the short seafood choice. Not to forget the imaginative salad and vegetarian sections, the daily specials, perhaps lamb shank shepherd’s pie in Saturday, and the excellent home-made desserts or Hampshire cheeseboard. The daily set menu is a steal (2 courses £13.95; 3 courses £18.95). Dishes are well executed and presented, and service, overseen with Gallic charm by John Lacombe, is knowledgeable and friendly from young, smiley staff.
Sharing plates: charcuterie board; fish platter
Carpaccio of beef, tomato, celeriac remoulade
Fillet burger, smoked streaky bacon, red onion relish and Hoxton Bakehouse bun
Chargrilled tuna Nicoise
Lamb cannon, lamb belly, aubergine, roasted cauliflower and purple potatoes
Fishcake and poached egg
Passion fruit panna cotta, white chocolate, honeycomb and mango
Sunday sees a set menu affair with a choice of four dishes at each course (2-courses £21.50; 3 courses £27.50). Typical roasts include Greenfield pork belly and sirloin of beef with all the trimmings.
Fuel for fisherman – late night snacks/cold platters are available and hampers can be prepared by the Inn’s Wilds Team for savouring on the river beat. Lucy created Wilds, an outside catering and event company based at the Greyhound, in 2015, so if you wish to splash out on riverside lunch for four, a shooting breakfast for twenty, a small private party or a wedding, then Lucy and her team will provide a bespoke and very personal service.
Breakfast: 8am – 9am (from 9am Saturday & Sunday)
Coffee & Breakfast: (non-residents) from 9am
Lunch: 12 noon – 3pm (4pm Friday to Sunday)
Dinner: 6.30pm – 9.30pm
Broughton Water Buffalo (www.broughtonwaterbuffalo.co.uk)
Flack Manor Brewery, Romsey (www.flackmanor.co.uk)
Greenfield Pork Products (www.greenfield-pork.co.uk)
Loosehanger Farmhouse Cheeses, Hampshire (www.cheeseproducer.com)
Peaberry Coffee, Andover (www.peaberrycoffee.co.uk)
Traditional Beef Company, Wiltshire (www.traditional-beef.co.uk)
Wine Utopia, Stockbridge (www.wineutopia.co.uk)
Upham Brewery, Upham, Winchester (www.uphambrewery.co.uk)
Lucy works closely with Wine Utopia (4 doors down) in Stockbridge to create a bespoke wine list that enhances Chris’s seasonal menu. It offers a thoughtful range of both classic and contemporary styles and includes Danebury Reserve from the local vineyard in the Test Valley, and 14 wines by the glass, carafe or bottle. Beer drinkers have a choice of three ales on tap, with guests from local micro-breweries, such as Flack’s Double Drop or a beer from Upham Brewery (near Winchester), alongside the regular bitter Ringwood Best. Among the top-end range of spirits is a collection of 19 interesting malt whiskies. In keeping with Lucy’s passion to source from local artisan producers, coffee is roasted in Andover by Peaberry Coffee.
11am – 11 pm
What’s the Damage?
10 doubles £110-£220;
single from £80
What Else?
Gongs
Waitrose Good Food Guide; Michelin Pub of the Year; AA 4 Star & 2 Rosettes
Take it back home
Tour the brewery that brewed your favourite pint, visit the shop on the farm that reared your delicious Sunday roast beef, and seek out the roadside stalls selling the local crab and samphire on the inn’s menu, the Food Trail features the local artisan producers and suppliers where you can buy to enjoy at home.
Change of scenery
Looking for a pub for lunch following a country walk, a different venue for dinner, or a good café for coffee, light lunch or afternoon tea, then the best in the area are listed below. If you find a new and exciting eatery in the area that’s worthy of a mention on the Food Trail, then please to do let us know – .
Inn Location - The Greyhound on the Test
Broughton's free-range water buffalo are reared on the rolling pastures of the chalk downs and you can buy steaks, burgers and buffalo mince at the farm shop, open Thurs-Fri and Saturday mornings. Their meat is also supplied to local farmers' markets and pubs and restaurants in the area.
A coffee shop with an award winning barista, Caracoli serves a variety of home-baked cakes and biscuits, as well as lunches of hearty soups, filled focaccia rolls and home-made sausage rolls and salads. There's a food store, too, which stocks the cafe's own 'Caracoli Kitchen' range, giving you a chance to take home what you've enjoyed in the cafe.
Tucked away in idyllic countryside, this farm shop has high quality produce supplied by local farmers, including smoked trout, lamb, pork and beef and their on-site butcher can offer advice on cuts and how to cook them. Their restaurant also offers a tranquil dining experience.
Certified as organic and biodynamic, this multi award-winning farm is owned by former Formula 1 champion Jody Schecktar. With its own on-site butchers, the farm shop provides an outlet for its products, including organic meats, seasonal fruit and veg grown in the walled garden, prize-winning mozzarella, ice cream buffalo milk and beers.
Five minutes' drive from The Greyhound on the Test, this Waitrose-owned farm shop stocks over a 1000 different products. Although they use 60 local suppliers, many of the items are produced on the estate itself, including the wheat used in its own-label flour, milk, apples, pears, free-range eggs and chickens. There's a cafe, too, offering a breakfast and lunch menu.
Prize-winning producers of artisan cheeses such as Old Winchester and Stoney Cross, made on the farm using milk from their own dairy herd. Also available is an organic veg range, including lettuces, broad beans, sugar snap peas, pumpkins and squash. Pre-booked evening farm tours are offered during July.
Founded in 1978, Ringwood brewery is well known for ales such as Forty Niner and Boon Doogle. Stock up in the shop located in the brewery yard and time a visit for one of the brewery tours that include a complimentary drink in the Pin Room.
A smokery using traditional methods where fish, meat and game is sourced locally where possible and smoked over English oak chippings. Salmon and rainbow trout are also on sale here, while duck, pheasant and other game are on offer during the shooting season. Products can be collected from the site via pre-arrangement and there's also a mail-order service.
Simple-rustic Michelin starred food, a laid-back vibe and stunning riverside rooms at this culinary oasis in deepest Wiltshire.
See Inn Places entry
Owned by Iain and Sally Hemming, this little gem is a deli, fishmonger and cafe all rolled into one. Amongst its wide-ranging produce, it stocks artisan breads from the Hoxton Bakehouse and also offers Friday night ‘fish and chips’, which you can wash down with a glass of wine or ale.
Taking place in Middle Brook Street on the last Sunday of the month, this award-winning farmers' market has around 90 stalls including artisan breads from the Hoxton Bakehouse.
This well-stocked wine merchants, which supplies The Greyhound on The Test, has hundreds of top quality and great value wines from across the world, many from small producers and estates.
Inn Activities
Shopping
Places of interest - Filter results using pins Inn Location - The Greyhound on the Test
A bespoke service is offered with a range of over 70 beats on more than 20 rivers. Expect grayling, sea trout and Atlantic salmon. There are few places in the UK where you can access some of the best and most sought-after private estate fly fishing in the world, but this is one of them.
At Leckford you'll find two 9-hole courses; the longest is the Old Course, 6276 yards and par 72. Set in about 100 acres bisected by the River Test, the Old Course was designed by Harry S. Colt (who also designed Wentworth, Muirfield and Sunningdale).
With a clay pigeon shooting ground at Stockbridge, Spitfire Shoot can accommodate all levels of gun, from the novice to the seasoned shot. Qualified experts and instructors are on hand to ensure your safety.
A friendly BHS approved stables offering lessons for beginners to experienced riders in dressage, jumping and cross-country, livery, and hacking in the Hampshire countryside.
Family owned and long established craft and gift shop that is crammed full with ceramics, glass, toys, mugs, unusual cards, wooden birds, and French & English bathroom treats.
Expect a wide variety of goods and services at First Floor Gallery in Romsey - from professional bespoke framing to picture movement, installation and restoration. Original paintings, prints, ceramics, gifts and cards can also be found stocked here.
This independent beer shop is in the centre of Romsey. Inside, you'll find over 250 bottles of beer, cider and perry from local and national brewers. Books, glasses and home brew kits are also available.
The historic city of Salisbury never fails to offer a rewarding and enjoyable shopping experience. Among its quaint old streets, you’ll find an impressive array of quality retailers and independent shops – especially in the vicinity of Winchester Street, Catherine Street, Fisherton Street and High Street.
Bespoke upholstered sofas and chairs are hand built from scratch using solid beech, the best traditional and contemporary padding, and quality fabrics at this workshop and showroom.
Take a stroll along Stockbridge's handsome High Street and you'll immediately spot a wide variety of individual, independent retailers - from art galleries and boutiques to specialist food shops as well as a butcher, greengrocer and fishmonger.
For lovers of antiquarian and second-hand bookshops, this established shop in Winchester’s St George’s Street offers an excellent selection on a variety of subjects. 01962 855630.
A contemporary art gallery exhibiting paintings, sculpture and ceramics from many well-established artists, as well as work from some very exciting younger artists. Solo, group and themed shows throughout the year.
Renowned for its fine Palladian-style architecture and open to visitors during the summer months, Broadlands was the home of the British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston. It was here that the Prince and Princess of Wales spent the first three days of their honeymoon in 1981.
Open to visitors on the third Sunday of the month during spring, summer and autumn, Longstock Water Gardens, just a couple of miles from Stockbridge, comprise three hectares of woodland with lakes and interconnecting islands and was voted the finest water gardens in the world by the International Water Lily Society.
This 12th-century former Augustinian priory became a private house after the Dissolution. Now managed by the National Trust, Mottisfont includes a drawing room decorated by Rex Whistler and a superb walled garden containing one of the finest collections of roses in the country. A tributary of the Test flows prettily through the grounds.
Its spire is the tallest in the country, immortalised in John Constable's famous painting Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows, painted in 1831. The cathedral was begun in 1220, finished about 1280, and includes a medieval frieze and an original copy of the Magna Carta.
This World Heritage Site is at least 5,000 years old and is the most famous prehistoric monument in Britain, perhaps. No one knows its exact purpose or how the smaller bluestones were brought here from Pembrokeshire. From every angle Stonehenge looks stunning but especially from a distance when the ancient stones blend into the timeless downland setting.
Dating from 1800 and restored by the Hampshire Buildings Preservation Trust, Whitchurch is the oldest silk mill in the country. Weavers work here using 19th-century machinery.
www.visit-hampshire.co.uk
For keen walkers, Hampshire is surprisingly varied and rewarding: there are still many tracts of unspoiled countryside and downland, especially in the vicinity of Stockbridge. The jewel in the county’s crown is undoubtedly the New Forest, now a National Park, but Hampshire can also claim several picturesque river valleys, including the Test (aka the queen of the chalk streams) where the walking (the Test Way) is particularly enjoyable. The county also boasts 13 long-distance trails, one of which, the 24-mile Clarendon Way, passes close to the Greyhound.
www.hants.gov.uk
www.thenewforest.co.uk
Over 750 miles of off-road cycle routes and urban paths make Hampshire a great place for cyclists. In addition, the New Forest has more than 100 miles of off-road routes.
www.visit-hampshire.co.uk
In September there’s the Romsey Agricultural and Horse Show at Broadlands near Romsey, one of the oldest in the country, having been staged here annually since 1842. Another popular annual event is the New Forest and Hampshire Agricultural Show, which runs for three days and takes place at Brockenhurst. Or try the Winchester Hat Fair, a long-running street festival that offers four days of events and art installations. For opera lovers, there’s Grange Park Opera, near Alresford, where performances are staged over eight weeks in a theatre in the grounds of a ruined house.
Beside the A30 at the western end of Stockbridge High Street, midway between Winchester and Salisbury.
The Guardian, Hotels British Boltholes, May 2013, Sall Shalam
‘It is five years since I reviewed a pub run by Lucy Townsend, and it was such a memorable trip. Enjoyable food, smart room, pub element intact. Mentored by great British hotelier, Robin Hutson, Lucy has bought her own. Formerly the Greyhound Inn, its newly elongated name leaves the fishing fraternity in no doubt that this lies beside the holy of holies when it comes to trout. This Stockbridge pub even has fishing rights….This is posh Hampshire, so I’m not going to argue about a simple, freshly painted double and good linen at £110. I’d like a table for the kettle and conditioner among organic toiletries in a bathroom stocked with thick towels, though, and there is something cheap about a louvre-doored cupboard containing thief-proof hangers…. We order.Braised cod cheeks with saffron sauce and linguine, and smoked carpaccio of buffalo arrive, well presented and delicious.’Now I’m quite pleased winter’s gone on a bit,’ says C as spatchcock poussin arrives in unctuous gravy with garlic mash, at £13.95, a bargain. I pick a £24 sirloin steak, bang-on medium rare, buttery chateaubriand sauce in a jug, and fat chips, crisp outside and soft in. Panna cotta flavoured with lemongrass and a calorific Nougatine glaceé round it all off with pots of herbal tea, a ridiculous bid, after such indulgence, for redemption through caffeine-avoidance.We are so impressed by what Lucy and chef Alan Haughie have achieved and cannot wait for a hot day. To try the salads. Some will need the lure of fishing (details on website). For us the pub is bait enough.’
Simple-rustic Michelin starred food, a laid-back vibe and stunning riverside rooms at this culinary oasis in deepest Wiltshire.
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A cool, relaxed vibe, rustic, seasonal food, local ales, simple rooms oozing style and comfort – everyone’s perfect country inn
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Once derelict, this thatched treasure has been revived with style, now a community hub offering modern food and cosy rooms.
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Timeless village setting for this riverside inn oozing historic charm – rustic bar, good food and chic rooms with views
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