The Barrow House, Kent: A contemporary take on the traditional village pub
Sarah and Dane Allchorne are at it again. The owners of the highly successful Milk House in Sissinghurst have opened a second place 10 miles to the north-east.
The Milk House is a stylish reinvention of a village pub with an airy feel and a dairy theme. It was a hit from the start; locals flocked there, and soon Sarah and Dane were organising weekly live music nights and even an annual summer food-and-music Milk Fest.
But these days, owning one pub, however successful, is not enough. You need volume, and Sarah and Dane, who met when working for a London catering company and now have three children, needed to expand. In Egerton, they have reproduced the same looks and concept (including live music on Friday nights), and if you know your Milk House, you’ll recognise its sibling.
The Allchornes are a delightful couple, hard-working and committed, and they’ve just doubled their workload. Hospitality is no picnic.
They may look similar, but The Barrow House, named after the Bronze-Age barrow that rises in a field on the village edge, has, I suspect, transitioned from local watering hole (The George) to “Kitchen/Village Pub/Rooms” less easily than the Milk House.
Sissinghurst is a throbbing metropolis compared with Egerton, set on a ridge high above the Weald of Kent, with superb views, reached by miles of narrow, twisting and not brilliantly signposted lanes. “God, this is hell,” said my husband as we negotiated yet another turn in the dark. “It’s called the countryside,” I replied acidly.
Egerton, once gained, is a charming village with a fine collection of domestic architecture (hall houses, yeoman houses, Kentish barns) and a prominent 13th-century church, St James’s. It has a notable community spirit – film society, running club, drama group, WI, you name it – and some residents may wonder what on earth has happened to its pretty weatherboard village inn, built in 1576 using timbers from sailing ships and traditional cob and straw plaster, which still remain behind the 17th-century wooden frame and Kent peg tiles. The signatures of American and Canadian airmen, who frequented The George in the Second World War, can still be seen in the bar.
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Undoubtedly, The George was full of nooks and corners and swirly patterned carpets. Now there are open spaces, walls painted in soothing chalky shades of blue and a stone floor. There’s a large dining room (“Elegantly distressed,” said our friend, Lexi, “like us”), leaving the L-shaped bar area for drinking and relaxing in front of open fires: it’s calming and pleasing to the eye, though it could be cosier.
As for the food, it was a little disappointing, certainly less appealing than the animated atmosphere in the room. Dane is a fine chef and I suspect that any negatives are a result of the perennial difficulty in securing good kitchen staff, not his menus.
There are three attractive bedrooms upstairs, with lovely big beds. At around £80 for weekday stays, they feel like a bargain: at up to £140 for weekends, they feel expensive. Ours, Bowl, was a little cramped and could do with some pictures on the walls, but at least it made us investigate the bowl barrow after which it was named.
Read the full review: The Barrow House, Kent
The Street, Egerton, Ashford, Kent TN27 9DJ. Doubles from £80 per night, including breakfast. Not suitable for guests using wheelchairs.
