The White Horse in Dorking is a historic pub with rooms that offers a comfortable and charming stay. With 56 rooms, it’s a surprisingly large establishment that manages to maintain a cozy atmosphere. The rooms are decorated in a modern style with elegant color schemes and feature amenities such as vegan hypoallergenic down duvets and real kettles. The hotel is very dog-friendly, with Tuffies beds available, fancy Sir Woofchester dog food in the bar, and a stick library next to the dog-washing area in the courtyard.The White Horse in Dorking is a historic pub with rooms that offers a comfortable and charming stay. With 56 rooms, it’s a surprisingly large establishment that manages to maintain a cozy atmosphere. The rooms are decorated in a modern style with elegant color schemes and feature amenities such as vegan hypoallergenic down duvets and real kettles. The hotel is very dog-friendly, with Tuffies beds available, fancy Sir Woofchester dog food in the bar, and a stick library next to the dog-washing area in the courtyard. The food and drink at the White Horse is decent, anglicised brasserie food with a few pub classics thrown in. Prices are firmly gastropub-level, and while the menu doesn’t feature much locally sourced produce, the establishment has earned a three-star rating from the Sustainable Restaurant Association for its commitment to sustainability. There is no spa or gym at the White Horse, but there is a courtyard with seating at the back where guests can enjoy the sun until the early evening. The hotel is located in the town of Dorking, which has a historic high street with antique shops and a museum. There are also several opportunities for walking and cycling in the surrounding hills, and the hotel is handy for the Epsom races. Overall, the White Horse is a good choice for a comfortable and charming stay in Surrey. The rooms are well-appointed, the food is decent, and the location is convenient for exploring the area.
HHow do you get dinner and a night at Raymond Blanc without spending four figures? Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons isn’t cheap, but set your sights not on leafy Oxfordshire but on leafy Surrey and you’re on the right track. Here, in Dorking, Brasserie Blanc’s sister company, Heartwood Inns — both part of the Heartwood Collection, which Blanc founded — has opened its first pub with rooms. The White Horse was an 18th-century post house with origins in the 13th century, and more recently a division of the Mercure hotel group. After an eight-month, £4 million renovation, the market town now has a cosy high street pub with oak beams and a flickering fire, a brasserie-style dining room and elegantly comfortable rooms in dim pastel tones. Dickens is said to have written The Pickwick Documents here — the traveling members of the Pickwick Club would have approved.
Total score 7/10
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Rooms and suites
Score 8/10
The White Horse has 56 rooms, but you wouldn’t think it did. The place is a warren of nooks, crannies, outbuildings and converted stables, with rooms in varying degrees of age, creaking and charmingly wonky. There’s none of the gloom of an old building, though. Skylights in the hallways and (bravely pale) wool carpets help keep things light. The rooms are colour-coded: petrol-blue panelled walls in the Snug rooms (still a decent size, though the bed may be up against the wall); apple green for the Comfy and Really Comfy; and a salmon-coloured mousse for the Fancy and Really Fancy rooms, the latter with roll-top baths and separate shower rooms.
Designer Inge Watrobski has chosen lots of patterned fabrics and geometric tiles, which add life and interest — the overall effect is something of an elegant Edwardian drawing room. Modern touches include vegan hypoallergenic down duvets and a real kettle with thick Surrey mugs. The White Horse is very dog-friendly, with Tuffies beds available, fancy Sir Woofchester dog food in the bar, and a stick library next to the dog-washing area in the courtyard. That said, some rooms are dog-free, as are parts of the restaurant; the accessible and stable rooms have floorboards instead of carpet.
Food and drink
Score 7/10
OK, don’t expect Le Manoir-style dining, but this is decent, anglicised brasserie food with a few pub classics thrown in: Scotch eggs and sausage rolls alongside cheese soufflés (the group’s signature dish) and fish soup with rouille and croutons; slow-cooked duck leg with dauphinoise potatoes and candied orange, or fish and chips. Prices are firmly gastropub-level, perhaps because there’s a core menu across the Heartwood Inns group, which unfortunately means locally sourced produce can only feature in specials-board dishes. Still, there’s enough seasonality on the menu and sustainability going on behind the scenes for the group to have earned a three-star rating from the Sustainable Restaurant Association (a respected organisation whose chairman happens to be M R Blanc).
The best tables, especially on a light evening, are those by the front windows. The back room is darker, but has a twinkling, fairy-lit olive tree and a Summer Exhibition-style collection of paintings and sketches on the wall above a sofa. Breakfast is generous, but it is rather disheartening to see that the establishment complies with the legal requirement to display calorie information by placing a list among the buffet items (44 for an apple, 41 for a portion of ketchup).
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What else is there?
Score n/a
There is no spa or gym and there is an old inn with limited parking (there is a public car park two minutes away). However, the White Horse has a courtyard with seating at the back where you can enjoy the sun until the early evening.
Where is it?
Score 8/10
Dorking isn’t as well-heeled as you might expect of Surrey’s best commuter suburb, but stroll along the high street past several historic buildings and you’ll come to West Street, with its antique shops and the Dorking Museum (free; dorkingmuseum.org.uk ). There’s some great walking in the hills that dot the landscape, particularly Box Hill, popular with Mamils and other cyclists, who might rent bikes from the nearby Cycle Collective (thecyclecollective.cc). Just north of Dorking is Denbies, one of the UK’s largest vineyards, with several tours and tastings (from £16.50pp; denbies.co.uk ); nine miles to the west, gin-maker Silent Pool offers distillery tours (from £25; silentpooldistillers.com ). Dorking is also handy for the Epsom races.
Price B&B double rooms from £119
Restaurant main courses from £14.50
Family friendly I
Dog Friendly I
Accessible I
Liz Edwards was a guest at the White Horse (whitehorsedorking.com)
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