Nyetimber Vineyard open day enticed us from London down to West Sussex, and we diverted to a lunch at a restaurant recommended by people we met at the Vineyard, whose recommendation we cross-checked with the restaurant's credentials written up in the Michelin guide.
The restaurant was in a pedestrian area and the nearby car park was full but we found a place not far away, with free coupon parking on a weekend. Horsham is delightful, a market town which probably gets its name from being a horse-trading ham or hamlet.
The pedestrianised streets reminded us of historic York. A very civilised little place, with well-spoken local and Wikipedia says the local council would not allow a discotheque. This made the place qualify as one of the worse places in a listing of where to live, but of course local people and some tourists think the opposite. If you prefer beamed buildings to drunks at discos, this is just the place you want to visit.
Restaurant Tristan is named after the chef, Tristan. This is a husband and wife family business, with Candy serving.
This picture shows Candy who welcomed us at the downstairs counter. If you don't have the time, money or appetite for a lunch, the breakfast dishes, cakes and one course lunch look interesting.
Breakfast from from 9 until 11.30 includes Croque Monsieur/Madame at ££6/£7. Eggs Benedict £8. Home smoked salmon and scrambled eggs £8. Wild mushrooms, poached and toast £8. (Prices Sept 2014.)
Lunch 12-3 downstairs included Duck egg,peas, air dried ham, truffle £7.
Cake of the day was £3. Blackberry tart, dark chocolate, clotted cream, £7.
Upstairs we enjoyed a two course lunch in the historic beamed restaurant dining room.
Here are the two desserts we shared.
We ordered a double espresso coffee (for one) and it came chocolates for both of us. In the middle is my favourite, the macaroon. On the right is a chocolate.
What can you do to walk off all those calories consumed? After lunch you we walked around the shops and I checked out Hotter shoes and boots. We bought fresh strawberries in the market.
We passed the plaque to writer Hammond Innes on our way to look in at the chuch. The church appeared to be shut. But the chapel to the left of the locked door was open. The chapel contained various memorials as well as having a wall of plain glass picture windows enabling you to get a good view of the church and its stained glass windows.
The Shelley Fountain
We missed Horsham's fountain commemorating poet Shelley who was born nearby. I discovered the fountain later in Wikipedia and saw it in action on YouTube. The fountain is smaller than it appears when photographed close-up. The sculpture commemorates Shelley's poem.
Perhaps the line, 'one fountain of a mourning mind' is not the best advertisement for Horsham, and the controversial fountain has had its water cut off at some times, apparently during water shortages, but it makes for an amusing video.
The globe descends a column and sends water downwards, unlike many dramatic fountains which shoot water upwards.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufYCawLU1pc
Restaurant Tristan
3 Stan's Way
East Street
Horsham
West Sussex
RH12 IHU
Tel:01403 255688
info@restauranttristan.co.uk
www.restauranttristan.co.uk
For more information and pictures of Shelley and links to the Horsham museum see my next post.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer, author, poet, speaker. See books on Lulu.com and Amazon
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