Escape this bank holiday

London has hundreds of excellent drinking holes - but there's nothing quite like a country pub. Forget the rain and head off for a cosy lunch at one of these beautiful inns...

The Onslow Arms
The Street, West Clandon, Surrey (01483 222 447). The Osnlow Arms is, apparently, the only pub in the country to have its own helipad, which means it's a natural attraction for the grand and the good. This low-ceilinged, twee country pub is part of the l'Auberge brand, owned and operated by the Surrey-based Tup chain of pubs, which means it's a traditional pub with a separate French restaurant, a brasserie, and traditional British fare available in the bar area. A good selection of cask ales is also offered.

Hotel du Vin & Bistro
Crescent Road, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent (01892 526 455).
This 18th-century sandstone building overlooking Calverley Park is, as the name suggests, a home to all good things that come from the vine. Several hundred wines are available and can be tippled in the elegant Burgundy Bar, the sitting room or the cigar and billiard room. Lunch or dinner in the Edwardian-style bistro is a sophisticated affair and, if you have the tendency to overindulge, you can try booking a room in this most fashionable of fashionable hotels.

The Basketmakers Arms
12 Gloucester Road, Brighton, East Sussex (01273 689 006). Brighton is high on the list of escapes from London, and The Basketmakers Arms is high on the list for pub connoisseurs in Brighton. This is a small, two-roomed pub, traditionally decked out and relatively sedate. Food includes anything from snacks and sandwiches to full-blown grills, curries and roasts. Ales from the Gales brewery are a pleasant sight.

Ye Olde Fighting Cocks
16 Abbey Mill Lane, St Albans, Herts (01727 869 152).
There are many pretenders to the throne of The Oldest Pub In Great Britain, and even the Guinness Book Of Records sits on the fence in the absence of irrefutable evidence. However, it does acknowledge Ye Olde Fighting Cocks as one of the oldest and describes it as an '11th-century structure on an eighth-century site'. But it's the traditional pub fare and the cask ales that attract people to this pub. They guarantee a minimum of nine cask ales, with at least seven changing every week.

The Cricketers
Wicken Road, Clavering, Essex (01799 550 442). This is where Jamie Oliver learnt his trade at his father's apron strings, and is the very model of an idyllic country retreat - a low-ceilinged, beamed pub in a chocolatebox village. It's the sort of pub your granwould love --homely, comfortable surroundings, where you'll be fussed over by waitresses of a certain age, clad in customary black-and-white, who'll happily sell you a copy of Jamie's cookbook, displayed in teetering piles by the door. Good-quality British fare is on offer along with an excellent collection of cask ales.