The Vineyard Hotel at Leonardslee Wine Estate

The Vineyard Hotel sits within Leonardslee Wine Estate, a proper Sussex surprise just outside Horsham. This is a working vineyard with a hotel attached - so you're getting English wine country without the pretension of some places. The estate grows its own grapes and produces wine on-site, which means the hotel restaurant actually has a reason to exist beyond charging London prices for mediocre food.

What you actually do here depends on what you want. Stay overnight and you get a comfortable base with vineyard views. Pop in for lunch or dinner and you're eating surrounded by vines in a converted farm building that doesn't try too hard. The wine list is, unsurprisingly, dominated by their own bottles - and they're drinkable, which is honestly more than you can say for some English wine operations.

It's worth a detour if you're doing a camping trip around Horsham rather than your main event. Raylands Country Park and Sunset Tree Camping are both within a few miles, so you could base yourself there and treat the Vineyard as a one-off dinner out. Families with older kids will manage fine; it's not a theme park situation, just a pleasant spot to eat and drink. The actual vineyard tour side of things isn't heavily marketed here - this is primarily a hotel and restaurant, not a visitor attraction in the traditional sense.

Check their website for opening hours and whether you need to book accommodation or just turn up for a meal. Sussex wine estates can be hit or miss, but the setting here is genuinely appealing.