First stop: It was like revisiting an old friend after my July trip. This time I was accompanied by, apart from my faithful hound, two other SE London real ale enthusiasts. For them, their first visit. It really was like stepping back in time once again and into someone's front room. There was Claire, one of the two sisters running it, while I think the other sister, Nisa, was helping out in the kitchen and just seen fleetingly and the latter of whom even has a homemade tart named after her. Both born and bred here and been in the same family since 1932. One of the two real ale enthusiasts I was with asked about Wi-Fi and was abruptly told we do not entertain that sort of thing here. Claire emitted somewhat loudly "Bugger Off" and in jest for the password! To my relief, the sisters had not since my last visit installed Wi-Fi, piped music, fruit machines and a tv screen or two! It is the home they have grown up in and little changed outwardly. A warm welcome from Claire who remembered me and my faithful hound. Same line-up of superbly brewed and kept local real ale and a lovely West Country cider, JJs, to aid washing down my rare beef ploughman’s this time around. Food is served until 2pm and the pub closes at 3pm for the sisters' country hours to be obeyed before reopening at 6pm. You can watch the Tweedy Pubs, Harrow Inn, Steep, YouTube video and which is how I first came across it, and a channel celebrating unspoilt pubs and a pint of traditional English ale. From Petersfield Station by foot is all of half an hour and taking a very quiet road, Harrow Lane, cut off by the new A3(M) which you can neither hear nor see in this most tranquil of settings. Just a few others in when I arrived and I got to sit at the same bench and table in the main room as on my July visit. It started to fill up with some passing trade who took to its lovely cottagey garden on this sunny afternoon. Only cash taken. No children under 18 in the bars. Dogs allowed in. Check opening times.

What a lovely gem of an unspoilt country pub from a bygone age for my first and very early afternoon visit on this first trip to Petersfield. I heard about it from Tweedy Pubs on YouTube, a channel that celebrates unspoilt pubs where you can feel a sense of history and where you can have a pint of traditional English ale. I was certainly not disappointed and to be met by a very friendly family running it, two superb local real ales on and even a jug of traditional cider to wash down their homemade cheese ploughman's. Lovely jubbly it all was in every way! The local family running it have connections way back to 1929 but licensee, Ellen McCutcheon, did not get her name over the front door until 1997. From Petersfield Station by foot is all of half an hour and taking a very quiet road-route cut off by the new A3(M). You can neither hear nor see that new road at this centuries-old pub which sits in the most tranquil of settings and still retains its outside loos. It is said to date from the 18th and 19th centuries on the outside. It is also thought likely that it was an inn well before the mention on Steep's rates list of 1744. In 1996 it was declared by the Good Pub Guide as the "most unspoilt pub of the year". Entering its small public bar was like stepping into someone's front dining room laid out with petite low stools, slim bench-style tables and adjoining bench seats all on original stone flooring. A superb open fireplace hogs almost the whole of the left wall as you step into it. There is a separate room on its right and only entered by its own separate outside entrance door. Just a few others in when I arrived and then it started to fill up with some cyclists, hikers and all the passing trade it attracts to keep it very much a living museum of an old-fashioned country inn. A superb outside terrace and a cottage-style garden with well-tended meadow-like plants. Only cash taken. No children under 18 permitted in the bars. Dogs allowed in. Check opening times.

Got there just after 21:00 on a Friday evening. Locals very welcoming.