The Beer Stalker – Rookesbury Park Caravan Club Site, Wickham, Fareham, Hants
This is a delightful site set within forestry close to the very attractive village of Wickham near Fareham in Hampshire. It is a surprisingly big site but never appears that way as it is landscaped into a number of distinct areas. Some of the site is sloped but pitches are cleverly terraced so the hard standing pitches within this area are nice and level.
My pub visit suggestion from here involves a short drive to the nearby village of Southwick but it is well worth the short drive. Southwick is a very pretty little village that houses a small brew house that once supplied the village with its beer supplies. In fact Field Marshall Montgomery must have known that when he hosted a secret meeting with President Eisenhower in the Golden Lion pub to discuss the D-Day landings.
My recommended pub is unsurprisingly the Golden Lion, High Street, PO17 6EB.
From the High Street it is a modest looking establishment with a very unassuming front door. The back of the pub is much more imposing with the attractive small tower brew house and the pub itself backing on to a large area that is now used as a convenient parking facility. Although the old brew house sadly brews no more it does now house an interesting small museum.
To say that the Golden Lion is a friendly and welcoming village pub is to understate things. It is probably the most friendly pub I have ever visited (and I have visited a few!). The owners have done an enormous amount of work to make the Golden Lion an absolute delight to be in. It is simple and comfortable and is exactly what a good pub should be. The whole pub is steeped in history and you will want to spend time looking around and perhaps, asking questions of the proud owners.
In the Golden Lion the friendly atmosphere created by the owners pleasingly cascades down to the bar staff and customers alike. It is not corporate either. It is genuine pride in what the serve and what they do. It is a genuinely friendly place to be.
As a dedicated Beer Stalker even I had not sampled all the beers being offered on the evening I visited with my wife. Fear not though for this is the Golden Lion where they prefer to give you little sample glasses so that you can make up your own mind! No more chalk board flowery descriptions that leave you confused and lost. Instead you can sample all the cask beers on offer and decide exactly which you prefer.
The Golden Lion not only serves perfectly kept ales but it serves evening and lunchtime food. I don't suppose I even need to mention that we are talking about pretty exceptional food but I promise that we are. I had fish and chips (the description will never do it justice!) for it was made with wonderfully flaky white cod and handcut chips to die for. If I had level a criticism then it was only that that homemade tartare sauce tried a little too hard to reach perfection.
In case you are worrying that you need a bank overdraft to enjoy all this then let me put you right. The beers were very competitively priced and the food, whilst not the cheapest pub food around, certainly wasn't expensive.
Try the Golden Lion the next time you spend an enjoyable time camping at Rookesbury Park. I promise that you won't be disappointed!