I was taking my bloke away for a surprise weekend to celebrate his 50th, on the way I wanted to stop somewhere for lunch. I didn’t want anything too fancy, a pub lunch in a nice pub. Equally I didn’t want to ruin the weekend with a plate of dodgy pub food.

Prepare to step back in time at the Plough and Horses, where the decoration and the prices are still back in the Eighties. Where the barlady would still love to have a fag dangling from her over-lipsticked mouth and where the bar is for the men and the lounge is for ladies and couples.

There are three pubs, at least three tearooms, a restaurant and a brasserie in Alfriston, a pretty village in the Downs just north of Seaford.

I'm not sure why the Kings Arms has slipped through Spy's fingers over the many years we've done the site, but it has. Perhaps its because we've always tended to settle over a fine pint of beer in the back garden, which has some fine views over the fields behind it and when anybody fancied a bit of nosh we, for one reason or another, declined.

Deep in the heart of the Ashdown Forest in East Sussex, the Hatch Inn ticks all the boxes you would expect of a quaint English country pub.

Many years ago when we started Spy, the Old Vine was one of our favourite places to go. It had a heyday around 2002-2004 (?) when you walked in, were surrounded by blackboards of bar snacks, main meals, sandwiches, whatever and were delighted and surprised by the quality of nosh and the charming, effortless service.