The Hawkley Inn, Hawkley

5 miles west and north of Petersfield. Everything you want a country pub to be: walking boots, wellies, horses and bikes by the door, great beer and cider, rib-sticking pub grub, fire, moose, big garden. All this and power showers too, if you're minded to sleep it off in some very smart accommodation. Seven beers on tap - they change every week - and decent wine too. Always plenty of local ales, (the Hipster has personally never had a bad one and would walk several country miles any day for Alton's finest, the fff Moondance). Music at weekends, beer fest every year. With a big garden out back and a covered verandah in front, an excellent pub in any weather, crowded at weekends, however, when food service can be on the slow side - get there early or late would be our advice if waiting a while bothers you - and the number of untethered children may occasionally test your tolerance (though this seems less of an issue since new space opened up in the pub at the end of 2006). A great place, just about hanging on to its greatness through a period of transition (the Hawkley has seen off two landlords and any number of barstaff since the long reign of the legendarily grumpy and still much-missed Al). Get there: Follow signs for Hawkley from West Liss (Hawkley Road runs up the side of the Spread Eagle). Pococks Lane, Hawkley. Liss 01730 827205, more at www.hawkleyinn.co.uk.

The Unicorn, Heyshott

10 miles east of Petersfield, about 4 miles south of Midhurst. Heyshott is a lovely village but its pub always let it down - staid and stuffy and far too closely tied to Kings of Horsham. Kings' beer is acceptable enough but nowadays we all like a bit more variety in our drinking. Reports suggest that this has all changed though and that, under friendly and enthusiastic new ownership, both the choice of beers and the atmosphere are greatly improved and it's now well worth checking out.

The location is certainly spectacular, right in the lee of the downs, with great views from the garden. Good place for a sunny spring or summer day, perhaps combined with a walk (can't be far from here to The Fox Goes Free. )Also worth noting for the annual Guy Fawkes torchlight parade and bonfire. The Unicorn, Heyshott.. 01730 813486 GMAP

Photo courtesy of the excellent Gravelroots website.

The Shoe Inn

Exton, 7 miles west and south of Petersfield. The Shoe is a very friendly traditional village pub in the Meon Valley whose slightly tired decor is compensated by some excellent grub. Lots of fish and seafood, cooked with a sure hand and offering some some great flavours. Wadworth's beers, good short wine list, terrace in front of the pub looks towards a riverside garden. Busy even on a Tuesday night, worth booking. Shoe Lane, Exton 01489 877526. GMAP

The Five Bells, Buriton

4 miles south of Petersfield. Rising from the slough of mediocrity into which it had sunk in recent years, The Five Bells shows every sign of reclaiming the status it once enjoyed as a really great country inn. Roomy, comfortable, traditional bar on one side, classy but equally loafable restaurant area on the other. Menus are reassuringly short. Good range of ales - King & Barnes' excellent Sussex going down well when we visited. Very friendly service. Was once famed for its Sunday lunches and has that feel again now. Food is certainly good, and portions are generous to a fault - does anyone order pudding here? More reports welcomed. Early days, but a hearty welcome back already seems justified.  High Street, Buriton, 01730 263584 GMAP

The Vine, Hambledon

7 miles south west of Petersfield. Handsome old pub in the exquisite, chocolate box Hampshire village recognised as 'the Cradle of Cricket' and home to the Hambledon Vineyard. Nice mix of eating, drinking and plain loafing-about areas with a handful of shaded tables on a deck out back. Excellent menu and good beers, including the Vine's own and a fine example from the Black Sheep brewery in Cumbria. Melanie Flint from the Lone Barn B&B (looks damn nice itself) put the Hipster on to this one: "a lovely atmospheric local pub serving excellent food with great service." She was right, and we'll be back regularly. Get there: head west from the A3 through Clanfield on a rolling road which will take you past Broadhalfpenny Down, the oldest cricket ground in England and still, surely, one of the most dramatically located (home of the feared Broadhalfpenny Brigands). The Vine is located at the far end of Hambledon's main street. 023 9263 2419. GMAP

The Royal Oak, Hooksway

9 miles south of Petersfield. Genuinely ancient - the building dates back to the 1500s and it's been an inn for at least half that time. Visiting the Royal Oak isn't a 'heritage experience' however - it's a functional village pub in the old-fashioned sense, serving good beer and plain but decent food, much of it to walkers and cyclists passing through between Chichester and the South Downs Way. Easy to miss - Hooksway is down a single track lane east off the B2141 Chichester - South Harting road, south of Harting Down. Blink and you'll miss it. 01243 535257 GMAP

The Fox Goes Free, Charlton

12 miles east and south of Petersfield. Rangy, popular, comfortable old country pub. Stylish restaurant too, offering really exceptional quality and value - the Hipster was quite moved on its last visit by a piece of perfectly cooked belly pork at a very reasonable price. Excellent wines and beers, including its own traditional Fox bitter at a refreshing 3.5°. Nice garden where you can sit under old apple trees and enjoy lovely views of the downs.  Rooms available, popular with the horse crowd. Regular music nights and poker school. Quite terrific really. More detail here. Get there: turn east at Singleton off the Midhurst/ Chichester road, travel two to three miles along a single track road. 01243 811461  GMAP

The White Horse, Easebourne

Just outside Midhurst, 9 miles or so east of Petersfield. Good unspoiled country pub, battered leather armchairs, fires, pub grub of the old skool. Greene King ales. Top of the range pub dog. Best pub in and around Midhurst that the Hipster knows of. Get there: Signposted just off the A272 half a mile or so east of Midhurst, opposite Cowdray's tradesmen's entrance. 01730 813521 GMAP

The White Horse, Rogate

The White Horse, Rogate. 4 miles. Solid village pub, decent food, great Harveys beers. Used to be a good bet for a quiet pint and a seat but was chocka the last time the Hipster dropped by. Easy for the unwary to shoot past and then find nowhere to tie up, but actually there's a good sized car park right behind the pub. Deservedly popular. Get there: right on the A272 in the middle of Rogate, opposite the church. Parking behind the pub, entrance on the right hand side. 01730 821333 GMAP

The Hamilton Arms, Stedham

7 miles east of Petersfield. This place is different. The region's #1 Thai boozer (from a fairly small pool, admittedly), combining Thai restaurant with what feels oddly like a London local that has been bodily transported to the West Sussex woodland, complete with clientele. Worth visiting at least once a year, when the pub creates the fantastic Eastern Cultural Fair, taking over the woods and clearings opposite the pub, filling them with Thai and other eastern food stalls plus Asian entertainments and exotica, a little bit of Glastonbury landed in West Sussex and really rather fab. Get there: half a mile or less north of the A272, between Trotton and Midhurst, signposted. 01730 812555 GMAP

Three Horseshoes, Elsted

7 miles or so east and south of Petersfield. Ancient pub with great atmosphere and spectacular views over the downs from the garden, really very good. Food is classic British... Sussex lamb cutlets, Selsey crab, Scottish mussels, lobster salad, venison, Dover sole, and some extremely toothsome puddings. Beers are from the barrel, wine list is short but good.  Manages to cater to both the real ale and the champagne crowd (it's within the gravitational pull of both Goodwood and Cowdray Park) while maintaining its own identity. This is a gastropub dating from years before anyone coined the term, and full of brisk confidence. A local great with which the Hipster is a touch smitten. Definitely a pub to settle down and grow old with. Get there: Elsted is signposted south from the A272 between Midhurst and Trotton; follow your nose for a couple of miles. 01730 825746. GMAP

The Keepers Arms, Trotton (restaurant)

Five miles east of Petersfield on the A272, more grape than grain (though two or three excellent local ales can be depended on) and certainly a finer and more consistent dining experience than it ever was. Taken over and revamped in 2007 and given a design makeover consistent with its short, sharp menu, losing some of its wilder eccentricities but retaining its intriguing spaces.  The kitchen functions brilliantly, producing modern British food of an extremely high standard - the best the Hipster has enjoyed on the Sussex side of Petersfield by some distance, and several correspondents have informally commended it too. Nicely balanced wine list and warm service. Undeniably it's more of a restaurant than a pub, but the generous lounging space in big leather sofas and armchairs by the fire (and the south-facing terrace outside) give it a great, relaxed feel. A serious destination for weekend hedonists, but if you're local, don't let that put you off. More here.   

The Keeper's Arms, Trotton (pub)

5 miles or so east of Petersfield. What a great establishment this is. The entertaining but migraine-threatening interior of former days has been stripped back and toned down to a cool, light space while retaining the intriguing nooks and crannies which make it a great pub to visit with any number of people. A real 'destination' pub, with fine rooms and skilful cooking of an extremely high standard available at  lunchtimes and evenings (see the hipster's restaurant review) and some intriguing beers. Excellent wine list too. Get there: perched above God's own highway (southern region), the A272, half way between Rogate and Midhurst. 01730 813724 GMAP

The Duke of Cumberland, Henley

Maybe eight miles east of Petersfield. Exquisite, creeper and wisteria-clad small country inn, well off the beaten track (aka the A286), perched on Verdley Hill. Tiny, dolls-house bar and dining area (book if you want to be sure of a table) contrasts with big rolling wooded garden, dotted with tables and chairs, bisected by streams and ponds full of fat brown trout which regularly make the short hop to the pub kitchen.  Lovely views north towards Haslemere and the Black Down. Good beers from the barrel and excellent, if slightly pricey, food from a small menu. Good looking roasts and game. Get there: Travel north from Midhurst towards Haslemere, look for the turnings to Henley as you approach Fernhurst. If you pass the Kings Arms (which used to be a great pub but, alas, no more), you've gone too far. The pub is on a steep single track road - look out for potholes. 01428 652280 GMAP

The Black Boy, Winchester

17 miles west of Petersfield. OK, it's a long way off for a pint, but if you ever plan to motor west, this is one of the greatest city pubs you'll ever visit. An old curiosity shop of a pub, featuring a seemingly endless series of rooms, crammed with a variety of furnishings, stuffed animals and entertainments of all kinds. Grub is of the soup and sandwich variety, but fresh and very good, excellent selection of beers, friendly, warm and cosy in winter, fine big garden for the summer. Music on Mondays, 'Black Rat' restaurant across the street (owned by the pub) also looks worthwhile... Pleasingly removed from Winchester's well-beaten tourist trail. Worth the trip, certainly worth dropping in if you're passing. 1 Wharf Hill, Winchester, SO23 9NQ Tel: 01962 861754. Park in the public car park across Chesil Street.  GMAP.

The Shoe Inn, Exton

7 miles west of Petersfield. Very friendly traditional village pub in the Meon Valley whose slightly tired decor is compensated by some excellent grub. Lots of fish and seafood, cooked with a sure hand and offering some some great flavours. Wadworth's beers, good short wine list, terrace in front of the pub looks towards a riverside garden. Busy even on a Tuesday night, worth booking. Shoe Lane, Exton 01489 877526. GMAP

The Pub With No Name (The White Horse)

Priors Dean, 4 miles from Petersfield. Big old pub in remote, appealingly bleak spot high up on the downs. Its popular name derives from the empty pub sign which swings grimly out on the main road, a final challenge for anyone trying to find the place. Two bars and restaurant, lots of room outside and in. The two snug bars inside, candle-lit and cluttered with old furniture have a dark, Jacobean feel which, in winter, warmed by open fires, is wonderfully welcoming. Can seem a bit less so on a summer's day, but a big sprawling garden makes up for that. A brighter and lighter restaurant has been extended at the back. Food is traditional pub stuff but skilfully handled with excellent ingredients (Cornish scallops, Scottish mussels or O'Hagan's celebrated sausages) contributing to a good repertoire of standards backed by regularly changing specials. Excellent range of ales including its own No-Name bitter. Has plenty of fans, including the poet Edward Thomas who was a regular and made it the subject of 'Up in the Wind', and celebrated chef and food enthusiast Antonio Carluccio. Excellent beerfest every summer with food, bands and camping available for weekend revellers, and other events through the year. In short: highly recommended. Get there: west from Petersfield towards Steep, follow the road as it winds up Stoner Hill. A mile or so past the Trooper Inn, look for the empty sign at the roadside and turn right. The pub is up a track on the right after 100 yards or so. Priors Dean, Hampshire, 01420 588387 GMAP

The George

The Square, Petersfield. Really rather snazzy - more a bistro/ bar than a pub, but let's not be picky. A handful of excellent ales (Deuchars, Hopback and Sharp's Doombar when we were in), a terrific range of wines by the glass or bottle (from our friends at the General Wine Company, we're guessing) and a nice selection of brasserie-style food. 'Burger Kitchen' looks good too, if you have a substantial gap to fill, as does Sunday brunch. Acoustic music on Friday evenings, something a lot louder on Sundays... really is a very good place. Sofas and easy chairs around the bar at the front, tables and chairs at the back and an outdoor courtyard too, featuring the celebrated Mexican Hut: tequila, Corona, Desperados and ice cream (shot and a beer, just four of your Earth pounds) . Best place for a drink and a bite in the centre of Petersfield, certainly, and really making an effort. One to watch. Frankly - we like.  01730 233343 GMAP

The Square Brewery

The Square, Petersfield. Honest town centre pub. Gales beers, decent range of pub food, arguably the best old-school breakfast in town. Increasingly the place to go for live music in Petersfield. 01730-264291. GMAP

The Good Intent

College Street, Petersfield. Really very decent old school boozer. Gales beers, old-style but good-looking pub grub (O'Hagan's excellent sausages feature strongly). Old-fashioned atmosphere (in a good way), no smoking restaurant area. Provides a platform every Sunday night for most of the local bands, jazz on Thursdays. Recommended. 01730 263838 GMAP