Cart & Horses

Interesting pub, owned by the D’Arenburg wine label of Australia. This means wines superb, and lots of clever food matching going on. The service matches the great food, wine & décor. Worth the trip. Warning — can get v busy for food at weekends.

Great pub for some good hearty food and a couple of drinks. Due to its location its not the kind of place you’d go for a big night out, but its perfect for a lunch and a couple of drinks in the afternoon! In the summer its great, the garden out the back is a little suntrap, and in the winter its just as good sitting inside — very cosy and warm!

Chance by accident into this unassuming village pub and you’ll find yourself instantly stunned by the lavish labour of love that has transformed every facet, nook and crannie of its interior. Slack jaw astonishment quickly fades to unequivocated wide eye joy that so much money can still be spent with such understated taste and detail. The first few minutes is a fevered, dizzy futile race to uncover anything, one small corner, that doesn’t match the spleandor and rush of those first few seconds gawping. Eventually you’ll become so far collapsed to simpering child like awe that only the chatty staff can lift you from your reverie. I’ve never ever, ever before been put at that much fabled ease of relaxation where money flows out of my wallet like water. And it wasn’t even very expensive.
We didn’t mean to stop by longer than a swift half and a moment’s contemplation. We were following one of the excellent walks out of Winchester in our ramblers guide. That there was a pub in Kingsworthy, was a brief aside if you should need refreshment halfway around the route. A more laudatory note would no doubt have been struck if the pamphlets publication didn’t precede the refurbishment of the Cart & Horses (in May 2008). Quite simply, the moment we found ourselves settling there, the rest of our plans for the day began to reorient themselves around it. In fact, despite being a (very pleasant) forty minute walk from Winchester I am quite certain we’ll be back many more times before the end of the year.
That there was an excellent choice of wines you could instantly discern from the racks of interesting vintage on display all about. It also wasn’t to be so unexpected. The real joy was the personal care and attention that had been extended to selecting house wines. There is extensive sign and menu coverage of the reasons various award winning vineyards were selected and (presumably) bought from in bulk. Our cheap bottle of house white was a character fuelled joy, as was our growing delight.
There were excellent continental lagers (Budvar, Peroni plus others) being sold cheaply on tap (less than £3) and I’d love to spend an evening some time relaxing by the fire with some of those. It can’t be said, however, that this is a pub you’ll ever come to for a large night out. It’s too far home by car or foot to do other than drink for taste. On the upside this imbues the atmosphere with an assured maturity. It also directs attention to the star of proceedings at this establishment, the food.
The kitchens, whilst not open plan, are visibly well equipped enough from a quick tour to inspire faith in the cooking. The menu is as restrained and tastefully inviting as the furnishings and the specials board has enough enticing variety to stop you even needing the menu.
We had a couple of delicious small plates and then quite uncharacteristically made room for a couple of puddings too. We hadn’t intended on eating anything when we arrived, but the atmosphere is such we wanted to try everything.
It was quite, quite dark by the time we left, something quite against our best intentions for we knew the route home to be very dark and very muddy. It was just too much of a struggle to tear ourselves away from the warm hearth and cosy
sitting earlier.