Charters B&B (breakfast) – Bosham, Sussex, England
Sep 26th, 2008 by admin
Last year, when I was researching places to stay near Goodwood for Revival weekend, I came across Charters Bed & Breakfast in the picturesque harbour village of Bosham, Sussex. We stayed just the one night, but it was so well-run, and the full English breakfast so delicious, that we booked a room for 2008 before we left.
Since our stay last year, the owners have reduced the number of rooms from around five to just two, so I’m really glad that we reserved our room a year in advance. It’s extremely hard to find decent and affordable accommodation around Goodwood during any of its events, particularly Goodwood Revival, so Charters is a real find. Furthermore, the drive from Bosham to the Goodwood estate at around 8ish in the morning takes just under 15 minutes, not including the inevitable wait to enter the carparks.
Bosham is very small, but it’s lovely to walk around during low tide. During high tide, certain areas are completely flooded (including the area in this photo. Last year we managed to photograph people rowing in their boats in this exact spot!), and this always catches out tourists who park their cars along the waterfront! The cottages are adorable, and some of the doors are built high up off the ground, to prevent flooding.
There are very few shops in Bosham, but importantly, there is the 300 year old Anchor Bleu pub, which I’ll be writing about next. Last year, we had lunch there, followed by dinner at the Millstream Hotel and Restaurant. We decided to forego the dubious pleasures of the latter this year and booked dinner at the pub. Alternative dinner choices would be in another village or in Chichester, several miles away by car.
Anyway, I digress, as it’s the full English breakfast at Charters that I really want to write about. Owner Louise is so accommodating that she’s happy to prepare it at any time in the morning. As breakfast is not a meal to be rushed, we settled on 7:45am. The other couple staying at Charters chose to have the Continental breakfast in their room, so it was just the two of us.
Two types of juice, a large bowl of chopped fresh fruit, a bowl of thick Greek joghurt, more fruit joghurts and a selection of cereals were already laid out for us. Louise offered us fresh tea and coffee and took our breakfast order. I went for the full Monty (award-winning local O’Hagans sausage, unsmoked back bacon, free range organic eggs from their hens in the garden, mushrooms, tomato, hash browns and baked beans), while the husband chose the vegetarian option (if you want this, you just have to let Louise know in advance). While we were waiting, a basket of six hot mini pastries arrived. Delicious!
My breakfast was perfect. Only one other breakfast has surpassed this in recent years, and that was the full Scottish that I had at The Scotsman Hotel in Edinburgh. The sausage was meaty and flavoursome, and the egg beautifully poached. Buttered brown toast was used to mop it all up. I didn’t even get a chance to try Louise’s selection of locally produced jams and Sussex honey, and was full up until at least 2pm.
Bed and breakfast at Charters costs £100 per night during Goodwood events, but over the actual weekend, there is a minimum stay of 2 nights (this might increase next year). We stayed on the Thursday night, so managed to avoid this. I have to add that our room was actually a suite, with a large sleeping area, living room area and sexy five star-style black and chrome bathroom. In fact, everything is immaculate, with little touches that you would expect from a high-end hotel. Charters certainly isn’t your average B&B, but more like a luxurious home from home that I can’t wait to return to.
All the England restaurant reviews on World Foodie Guide
Contact details:
Charters B&B (Louise and Patrick Saddington)
Bosham Lane
Bosham
Chichester
PO18 8HG
Tel: 01243 572644
louise@chartersbandb.co.uk
The picture of the English breakfast is beautiful (as is the fruit and mini pastries). My husband was salivating over the picture of the English breakfast. Living in the U.S. we so miss having a proper English breakfast. We can sometimes find Irish Bangers and some back bacon and even tins of proper baked beans and we make a breakfast as a treat with all the trimmings. We like our bacon done just right and not burnt to a crisp like they do here. It’s funny living abroad what you miss from home! In case I forget to say it, have a wonderful time in Hong Kong and eat lots of dim sum for me. Look forward to the reports.
Susan S. Cheung
Susan – How are you? I remember the cooked breakfasts in the States, especially the bacon, which is so hard it doesn’t even taste the way it should! In NYC though, you could buy everything, including baked beans. Don’t worry, I’ll eat enough good food (and dim sum) in HK, Macau and Beijing for you!
Helen Yuet Ling
Looks lovely!
I have to confess, when I have a full fry up, I must have fried bread. So naughty…
Lizzie – fried bread with a fry-up! I am impressed! I guess if you’re going down the fry-up route, you might as well go the whole way. I might try that next time…