The Bell in Ticehurst

Style

Kooky country inn

Setting

Bell of the Bewl

With its timeworn red bricks, teetering chimney stacks, leaded windows and wonky doorways so low you might have to stoop to enter unscathed, the Bell in Ticehurst might have jumped straight from the pages of a Dickens novel. Inside this storied 16th-century inn, ancient features like inglenook fireplaces and crooked beams jockey for position with whimsical modern additions. No, that spiral tower of tomes in the bar isn’t actually holding up the ceiling, but yes, those repurposed Wagner tubas in the gents’ loo really are functioning urinals, and the silver birch tree in your room is no Alice in Wonderland-esque hallucination. Find a cosy snug from which to admire the enchanting eccentricity of it all, or step outside into English countryside so charmingly twee it would make Enid Blyton blush.

Facilities

Quartos

16, of which five are suites.

Checkout

11am. Check-in is at 3pm. Both are flexible where availability permits and luggage can be stored when rooms are not ready. A £20 fee applies for late check-out until noon.

Mais detalhes

Rates include breakfast in the restaurant. Arrive hungry for the buffet of fresh pastries, fruits, yoghurt, cereals and juices, then get down to the real business of the day with a country-style full English breakfast.

Also

There’s one wheelchair-accessible lodge in the gardens and the bar, restaurant and accessible toilet are also all at ground level.

Acesso gratuito à Internet

Aceitamos animais de estimação

Restaurante no local

Serviço de quarto

At the Hotel

Free WiFi, garden fire pits. In rooms: TV with Freeview channels, tea- and coffee-making kit, and freshly baked treats.

Our Favourite Rooms

Among the Bell’s eccentric pick ’n’ mix of rooms and suites, the aptly monikered Love Nest stands out as perhaps the quirkiest of all. This seductive garden rotunda comes with a curvaceous copper bath tub, twin rainfall showers, wood-panelled walls and a log-burner. Climb the spiral staircase to the circular rooftop terrace for summer sundowners and 360-degree views that take in the oasthouse-style roofs of the neighbouring lodges, the inn’s red-tiled roof and the village beyond.

Packing Tips

Cosy nooks in the literature-obsessed Bell’s public areas practically beg to be curled up in with a good book. Bring a suitably tattered and atmospheric paperback or two – an Agatha Christie country-manor mystery or ghostly MR James chiller – to read in a single gin-soaked sitting by the bar’s roaring inglenook fire. And pack solid hiking boots for yomping the cobwebs away up the High Weald country trails next morning.

Also

There are more than 3,000 tulip bulbs planted around the fire pits in the Bell’s rear garden. Spring guests are rewarded with a rainbow of bell-shaped blooms accompanied by a symphony of bees and butterflies.

Crianças

Free travel cots can be added to most rooms; extra beds for under-nines are £35 a night; there's a kids’ menu in the restaurant and a whole world of wild countryside for little Smiths to explore.

Galeria

Food & Drink

Dress code

Countryside chic – tweeds, floral prints and animal motifs – in the restaurant area; wax jackets and muddy boots for that post-hike Sussex bitter in the pub garden.

Hotel Restaurant

Served in the quirky environs of the pub, with its low-beamed ceilings, roaring fires and antique artefacts – including an 18th-century bell, a carved wooden tollgate notice and several prints by artist Graham Sutherland – the Bell’s bar menu is a cut above. Expect life-affirming duck and rabbit nuggets with lovage emulsion, hedgerow pheasant with Jerusalem artichoke purée and an almost comically decadent dark-chocolate and orange fondant with Bailey’s ice-cream.

Hotel Bar

This charming old village pub dates back to the 1560s and remains a firm favourite with locals for its excellent selection of Sussex beers, wines and ciders, above-par pub grub and eccentric decor that includes mismatched vintage wallpaper, bowler-hat lights and arty ephemera. Bring your dog and a good book, pull up a chair by the fireside and soak up that olde English atmosphere over a refreshing Garden of England cocktail made with Mousehall Sussex gin.

Last Orders

The lively bar stays open until 11pm.

Room Service

Subject to availability but staff will try to accommodate requests where possible.

Planes

Gatwick Airport is around an hour away by car. Road is the quickest way to get there, but a cab will set you back £80 to £100 one-way.

Trains

There are three regional stations within around five miles of the Bell. Both Wadhurst and Stonegate connect direct to Royal Tunbridge Wells (around 15 minutes), Hastings (around 30 minutes) and London Bridge station (around an hour).

Automobiles

You’ll want your own set of wheels if you plan to explore the mosaic of woodland, heaths and farmers’ fields that make up the High Weald’s wild landscape. Make like lords and ladies of the manor and pick up a classic Bentley or Aston Martin at the airport before cruising the B-road to Ticehurst via ye olde English villages of Blackham and Wadhurst, all bright-red pillar boxes, startled-looking pheasants and perfectly manicured country gardens. There’s free parking when you arrive at the Bell.

Worth Getting Out of Bed For

Take a peep outside the creaking front door of this ancient fairy-tale inn and you’ll find a tiny but vibrant village where quaint red-brick cottages share narrow, flower-filled lanes with independent shops and cute cafés, all overlooked by a picture-perfect 14th-century church. Greenfinch is a diminutive art space that punches well above its weight, showcasing stacks of unique ceramics, artworks, clothing, accessories and more by artists native to Sussex and Kent. Here’s where to pick up trinkets, souvenirs and one-off pieces that often wouldn’t look a jot out of place in the Bell itself. Railway enthusiasts should chug straight along to the minute model train shop, while the collection of vintage homewares and textiles in the Old Haberdashery next door is guaranteed to set seamstress and tailor hearts aflutter. In summer, fill your wicker hand-basket with berries, cherries and plums at Maynards pick-your-own farm.

The High Weald’s patchwork of forests, farms, parks and ye olde English villages is manna for ramblers. Staff at the Bell can share their encyclopaedic knowledge of the local highways and byways, but the marked seven-mile circular woodland walk from Ticehurst’s village square, taking in views of the Bewl Water reservoir and returning via Ketley Wood, is as good a place to start as any. That pint of Harvey’s Best Sussex Bitter back at the Bell will be well-deserved.

A little further afield, there are excellent parks, gardens and heritage properties to discover. Pashley Manor’s English country garden is open through spring and summer, promising a frenzy of tulips, wisteria and climbing roses every bit as delicious as the homemade cakes and scones in its little café. Wander beneath giant redwoods and thousands more conifers at Bedgebury National Pinetum and Forest, 2,600 acres of glorious Wealden woodland that’s paradise for little explorers (and hungry Gruffalos).

You might be unsurprised to spot a dragon gliding over mediaeval Bodiam Castle, so closely does this moated fortress resemble something from a depiction of St George battling his mythical foe. Around 15 minutes from The Bell, this fairytale castle has its original portcullis, plus a stone unicorn, ancient bread oven and extensive battlements to explore, as well as a 50-something carp that keen-eyed visitors can spot lurking in the moat’s murky depths. Join in regular activities including archery days, crafts and mediaeval garden games.

Earn or Redeem Points with World of Hyatt

This Mr & Mrs Smith hotel participates in the World of Hyatt loyalty program. As a member, you can earn and redeem points and enjoy exclusive benefits for qualifying nights. .