Cool place of the day: The Royal Oak, West Sussex

Every day, a new place to discover or explore from coolplaces.co.uk

This lovely Georgian country inn is snuggled in beautiful West Sussex countryside just within the fringes of the South Downs National Park. To the north are the rolling chalk Downs; to the south, Chichester, and beyond that the pretty estuaries and inlets of Chichester harbour and the lovely sandy beach at West Wittering (which came within a whisker of becoming a Butlins in the 1950s until a bunch of locals clubbed together to buy it).

It’s a great location, and happily everything else about the place is pretty good too. There are six rooms in all – four in the main building, two in a converted barn out the back, with beams, exposed brickwork and views over the fields behind the inn – plus a handful of two-bedroom serviced cottages down the lane.

Rooms come with smart bathrooms and Temple Spa toiletries, and cheering touches such as fresh milk in the fridge and complimentary newspapers for lazy morning lie-ins.

With Chichester just three miles away, there are plenty of nearby eating options, though you’ll probably just want to stay put. The Royal Oak in fact describes itself as a “restaurant with rooms and sure enough its cosy, fire-lit restaurant serves really great food, with the likes of local venison and fish, Selsey crab and Southdown lamb alongside fish and chips, steaks and homemade pies”.

Cool Places is a website from the creators of Rough Guides and Cool Camping, suggesting the best places to stay, eat, drink and shop in Britain (coolplaces.co.uk)