Tipple before turkey
The turkey's in the oven, the children have their presents, but those of us over 18 are usually finished playing with our socks and knitted jumpers by early morning. Definitely a window of opportunity for a trip to the pub. A pub on 25 December can have a club-like atmosphere and the spirit of Christmas can be enjoyed with a glass of your favourite tipple. Someone has to stay behind to cook, of course... Hey... where is everyone?
Each pub listed is serving drinks from noon to 2pm on Christmas Day (the Eagle also serves lunch ).
Three Horseshoes
Bridge Street, Warham All Saints, Norfolk NR23 1NL (01328 710547)
This long, two-storey flint and brick inn is at the centre of a small village not far from the North Nor folk Coast Path. A small bar area with a Victorian fireplace leads to a larger carpeted room, both with scrubbed pine furniture and eclectic touches such as old cigarette boxes in cases, stuffed birds and a grandfather clock. Beer drinkers will be cheered to find Woodforde's Wherry Best Bitter, Greene King IPA or regularly changing guests from local microbreweries, all tapped direct from the barrel . Or try one of the fruit wines.
Exeter Arms
Main Street, Barrowden, Rutland LE15 8EQ (01572 747247)
Beach Boys, Best Boys and Bevin Boys are just some of the beers produced by the Blencowe Brewing Company, housed in a barn next to this old stone pub overlooking the duck pond. Sample the results at the long, wood-panelled bar: smokers head for the Tap Room, while others settle into another low-beamed area. Wine drinkers will find a fair choice by the glass.
Blue Lion
East Witton, North Yorkshire DL8 4SN (01969 624273)
Through the front door of this eighteenth-century coaching inn on the broad main road through the attractive village is a warm, snug, flagstone-floored bar with a convivial and welcoming atmosphere. A respectable line-up of local real ales ranges from Black Sheep to Theakston, and wine drinkers will revel in the flavoursome and good-value dozen that come by bottle, glass or half-litre. Or peruse the main list for classics and fresh modern flavours from around the world.
Eagle Inn
23 Broad Street, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire HR9 7EA (01989 562652)
The Eagle is on the corner of one of the main roads through Ross-on-Wye. The bar is on the ground floor, with the upstairs restaurant accessed by an iron spiral staircase; each has dark tongue-and-groove half-panelling topped by rows of wine bottles, with bistro chairs and bare floorboards in the bar giving way to the restaurant. Hook Norton and Wye Valley ales, and wines from a 30-strong list, plus a special festive menu (£39.95) featuring a choice of three starters, four main courses (turkey, beef, salmon, vegetarian tart), three desserts and local cheeses.
Hawkley Inn
Pococks Lane, Hawkley, Hampshire GU33 6NE (01730 827205)
Hidden down country lanes, this unpretentious pub with its open fires is the place to come for excellent ales. On offer might be Ballard's Trotton Bitter and Nyewood Gold, brewed in Petersfield, or Cottage Golden Arrow. Wines are not really a feature, but there's the pub's own Swamp Donkey cider.
Forget basting, let a chef do the work
If your household is short of willing cooks, how about leaving it to the professionals? The thought of going to a restaurant grows more tempting the more you think about it. No fretting about when to buy the vegetables (too early and they won't stay fresh, too late and the shops have sold out), no arguments about turkey or something more interesting, lots more space in the fridge and no washing up. Once you've had an accomplished chef cook your Christmas lunch, it might be hard to go back to the way things were.
Angela Hartnett's menu
The Connaught, 16 Carlos Place, London W1K 2AL (020 7592 1222)
'Menu' is the famous hotel's old restaurant in its new form under Gordon Ramsay, where Angela Hartnett presides over a kitchen delivering assured, often stunning dishes. The four-course Christmas lunch menu (plus canap¿s, mince pies, chocolates and coffee) comes in at £150 per head excluding wine. A good choice includes a starter of ravioli of lobster saut¿ed with langoustine, and if you eschew the roasted turkey properly garnished, you could opt for sea bass with herb couscous and confit tomatoes.
L'Enclume Cavendish Street, Cartmel, Cumbria LA11 6PZ (015395 36362)
The former smithy - in a narrow street near the priory - has been turned into a smart restaurant-with-rooms. Plate-glass doors lead to a light, open-plan dining room with rough-textured walls, flagstone floor, beamed ceiling and colourful modern artworks. Chef/proprietor Simon Rogan is a creative and confident cook whose Christmas lunch menu (£75 per head) promises terrine of corn-fed chicken and foie gras as one of the two choices to start, and roast Challans duck is a main course option. Assiette of lemon to finish.
Chapter One Farnborough Common, Locksbottom, Farnborough, Kent BR6 8NF (01689 854848)
You wouldn't take this for a former pub. Open-plan interior, stripped-pine floor, pale walls and dark-blue upholstered chairs create a pleasingly expansive feel. Chef Andrew McLeish produces food with a high degree of polish. For Christmas lunch expect five courses for £90, kicked off by a glass of champagne and offering a choice of three at each course, including a vegetarian option. There is turkey if you want it, or go for a main course of roast fillet of Glenarm salmon with a lobster herb crust.
Hotel du Vin & Bistro
25 Church Street, Birmingham, West Midlands B3 2NR (0121 200 0600)
Sympathetic restoration means this fine redbrick city-centre building retains much of its character. There is a Bubble Bar for aperitifs, a courtyard open to the sky with a fountain, statues, plants and tables, and a dining room with wooden tables, bare floorboards and vinous paraphernalia. Plenty of choice on the three-course lunch menu (£60), from turkey with all the trimmings to roast saddle of lamb stuffed with spinach and wild mushrooms. A first-class wine list, too.
Nutters
Edenfield Road, Cheesden, Greater Manchester OL12 7TY (01706 650167)
Chef/patron/TV personality and cookery masterclass teacher Andrew Nutter employs a modern European touch to quality ingredients at his stone-built moorland country pub. Swagged curtains, chandeliers and a friendly welcome set the tone. Lunch (£85) begins at 12.30 sharp with a champagne-and-canap¿s reception and proceeds to five courses - soup, fish, granita, beef or turkey, dessert or cheeses. And carol singers and Father Christmas to boot.
Relax over champagne and carols on a hotel break
Most hotels that are open over Christmas offer packages of three- or four-night stays, typically starting with afternoon tea on Christmas Eve and finishing with breakfast the day you check out. Some include festive events, such as carol services or visits by Santa; others leave guests to unwind and do their own thing, simply turning up for sumptuous feasts.
In general, if you have your heart set on a particular place, it's best to book as early as possible (some we contacted were booked up for Christmas by June). But here are some recommendations from Which? Guide to Good Hotels 2004 that still had availability over Christmas as we went to press.
Charlton House
Shepton Mallet, Somerset BA4 4PR (01749 342008)
The founders of Mulberry have created a den of sumptuous luxury as well as beauty treatments available on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day. Their 'Christmas House Party' includes transport to the Christmas Eve midnight service at Wells Cathedral and either trans port and tickets for pantomime at the Theatre Royal in Bath or transport and access to the races at Wincanton on Boxing Day. Three-night package from £835 per person.
Cotswold House
Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire GL55 6AN (01386 840330)
Ian and Christa Taylor's Regency townhouse in this popular Cotswolds location is a classy bolthole at any time of year. All bedrooms have Bang & Olufsen entertainment systems with DVD and CD players (there's a library of discs to borrow) and in some of the cottage rooms there's even a mini TV-screen above the bath. The package includes a Christmas Eve champagne cocktail party, a visit by Santa and a treasure hunt on Christmas Day. Three-night package from £750 per person (excluding Boxing Day lunch).
The Roxburghe Heiton, Kelso TD5 8JZ (01573 450331)
The Duke and Duchess of Roxburghe's baronial house and 500- acre estate is the very image of country-house living. Towers and mullions, oil portraits of ancestors and ornate public rooms provide an elegant and tasteful backdrop to festive activities, but if you're the outdoor type you may like to go golfing, fishing or clay pigeon shooting. For the less active, there's also a spa. The Christmas House Party includes mulled wine and carols on Christmas Eve and an 'Owl encounter' on Boxing Day afternoon followed by a 'haunting evening'. Three-night package from £405 per person.
Lake Country House
Llangammarch Wells, Powys LD4 4BS (01591 620202)
This former spa hotel started life as a nineteenth-century hunting lodge and a refined old-world attitude still lingers among the ticking clocks, log fires and walking sticks by the front door. As well as elegant public rooms and spacious bedrooms, residents can take advantage of the full-size snooker table, golf course and fishing. The package includes a visit from Santa and a black-tie gourmet dinner on Boxing Day;if you can't tear yourself away, there's a Welsh dinner with a Welsh choir on 27 December. Three-day package from £730 per person; four-day package from £790 per person.
Lindeth Fell
Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria LA23 3JP (015394 43286)
Pat and Diana Kennedy's hospitality gives their Edwardian country house an understated civilised air. Set in superb gardens, the hotel has a fine vista over Windermere and excellent food. As well as carol singers accompanying dinner on Christmas Eve, presents and Buck's fizz around the tree and a picnic lunch aboard a boat on Windermere on Boxing Day is also included. Three-night package from £450 per person.
· Andrew Turvil is editor of Which? Pub Guide 2004. Kim Winter is co-editor of Which? Guide to Good Hotels.
