This is a first, I think, peering into the wardrobe where instead of a safe, there's a shotgun cabinet. This is not the first clue that we are deep into horse-and-hound territory. Two huge stone great danes guard the entrance to Bel & the Dragon; a bronze statue of a rearing horse greets drivers in the car park.
On the edge of the village of Churt, in the Surrey Hills, this is the fifth pub makeover by Longshot Country Inns, which has spent £700,000 turning an old boozer into a gastro pub with 14 rooms. The roomy bar and atmospheric dining room are kitted out with factory-style lights, chapel chairs and wooden tables set with milk-bottle vases of daisies. Original features include a beautiful parquet floor and wood panelling painted in tasteful teal.
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