The Sunday Ritual: Five Definitive Country Roasts in Surrey

In the panelled warmth of Oxshott, culinary director Matt Larcombe elevates the traditional roast into fine dining without losing its soul. The centrepiece is dry-aged Hereford sirloin, served with towering, airy Yorkshire puddings and beef-dripping roast potatoes that crackle under the fork. Accompanied by heritage carrots glazed with tamarind and a bone-marrow-infused red wine jus, it remains Elmbridge's premier table.

Sheltered beneath Box Hill along the ancient Roman Stane Street, The Running Horses is a 16th-century coaching inn tailored for post-ramble feasting. Settle beside the inglenook hearth for slow-roasted Cumbrian pork loin with crackling or garlic-studded roast rump, poured over with generous jugs of proper pan gravy and matched with local Pilgrim ale.

Tucked deep along the Greensand Way below Hascombe Hill, this handsome country inn takes pride in its dedicated in-house dry-aging cabinet. Their Sunday offering champions prime Surrey and Sussex beef, roasted rare and paired with creamed leeks, seasonal greens, and bubbling cauliflower cheese.

Anchoring the postcard village of Wonersh just south of Guildford, The Grantley Arms offers the quintessential fireside Sunday retreat. While large family gatherings occupy the atmospheric Old Bakery room, the main dining room centres on hearty cuts of British roast beef, slow-cooked pork belly with crisp crackling, duck-fat roast potatoes, and jugs of rich red wine gravy. Paired with a pint of Surrey Hills ale and an afternoon stroll around Chinthurst Hill, it is one of the county’s most comforting weekend rituals.

Perched over Chiddingfold's village green, dining beneath 600-year-old crown timbers makes any Sunday feel historic. The kitchen pairs rolled native pork belly and tender roast lamb shoulders with orchard apple sauce and garden-grown herbs, rounded off with warm treacle sponge.