10 best pub beer gardens for summer

Bottoms up! Enjoy your pint al fresco at one of these pubs with gorgeous outdoor spaces

The Elephant's Nest Inn, Devon

Summer is here (just about), so while the sun is still shining, head outside to one of the many great beer gardens around the country. Here are some of our favourites, from Sawday's new book, Special Places: Pubs & Inns of England & Wales.

The Black Swan, Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria

A cool little inn lost in beautiful hills with pretty rooms, super staff and fabulous food. Summer drinking here is best done in the lovely riverside garden, bliss on a warm day. Duck under hanging baskets to find the busy main bar with a TV, games of scrabble and newspapers to read, or head to a quieter lounge with comfy seating at bay windows. Wherever you land fill up on fine fayre, from simple sandwiches to three-course blow outs. You are deep in the Eden valley – it would be a crime not to explore it.

Lunch from £4.95. Dinner, three courses, £20-£30. Rooms from £80 per night.

The Black Swan

Horse & Groom, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire

You're at the top of the hill with big views stretching over the Cotswolds. This is a hive of youthful endeavour, with brothers at the helm; Will cooks, Tom pours the ales, and a cheery conviviality flows. There are settles and boarded menus in the bar, stripped wooden floors and old rugs in the dining room. Food goes way beyond the pub norm. Sit back under the shade of damson trees with a mellow pint of Goff's Jouster in summer and watch the chefs raid the kitchen garden – for raspberries, strawberries, broad beans, herbs and more.

Lunch from £4.75. Dinner, three courses, £25-£30. Rooms from £120 per night.

The Horse & Groom

The Elephant's Nest Inn, Tavistock, Devon

Travellers look happy as they enter the main bar, all dark beams, flagstone floors and crackling fires in winter... you can almost imagine a distant Baskerville hound baying. This is an atmospheric inn that serves delicious home-cooked food – local, seasonal and British with a twist. The pub has its own cricket ground and club so settle back to the thwack of willow on leather with a pint of Palmer's IPA. There's Doom Bar too, Jail Ale from Princetown, and guest ales from Otter, Cotleigh, Teignworthy, Butcombe. What's more, the pub is a dog-friendly zone, so four-legged companions will be in heaven.

Lunch and dinner £8.95-£19.95. Rooms from £88 per night.

Inside the Elephant's Nest Inn

Inn at Fossebridge, Cirencester, Gloucestershire

Here, on the old Roman road, rusticity and elegance achieve the perfect balance at a gorgeous 17th-century coaching inn run with aplomb by Dee Ludlow. A super authentic bar, real ales, roast lunches and a welcome for all make this somewhere worth going out of your way for. The Georgian style dining room pulls in lovers of good food and the pub garden is one of the largest and loveliest in the Cotswolds with a two-acre lake, mature trees, barbecues in summer, a tyre swing and wooden tractor and train for children. Walk from the pub up the Coln valley and revel in glorious countryside.

Lunch and dinner £11-£21.50. Bar meals £4.50-£9.50. Sunday lunch £14. Rooms from £90 per night.

The Inn at Fossebridge (Kay Ransom Photography)

The Royal Oak, Marlow, Buckinghamshire

The old whitewashed cottage stands in a hamlet on the edge of the common – hard to believe that Marlow is just a mile away. Beyond the sun-dappled terrace is a stylish open-plan bar, cheerful with cream-coloured walls, fresh flowers, rug-strewn boards and cushioned pews. Order a pint of local Rebellion and check out the daily chalkboard for innovative pub grub in the form of 'small plates' such as 'Wobbly Bottom' goats' cheese with basil quinoa and walnuts, and main meals – beef short rib slow-cooked in IPA, or pan-roast pork loin with their famous bubble and squeak. The sprawling gardens are perfect for a summer game of table tennis on the lawn.

Lunch and dinner £11.75-£19.75.

The Royal Oak

The Maytime Inn, Burford, Oxfordshire

The setting is gorgeous, the village is historic, and the 17th-century coaching inn has its own smithy. Set off on a circular walk and end up in the bar. A cool young team run this rather posh pub, good food is sourced locally and freshly cooked in a modern, very British, way including pub classics and sandwiches. Drinks are taken seriously: an ever-growing choice of gins, an innovative beer menu and an excellent choice of wines and whiskeys. Head outside for a large terraced area, an outdoor bar, petanque, comfortable places to sit – and if you are chilly? A double-sided wood-burner and woolly blankets take care of that

Starters from £6.50. Mains from £12.50. Rooms from £95 per night.

The Maytime Inn

Stackpole Inn, Pembroke, Pembrokeshire

In the lovely Stackpole National Park, a jolly, thriving and hospitable inn with infectiously enthusiastic owners and a chef with local food connections: as much as possible is Welsh and all is cooked from scratch. Sip Welsh ale in the fine garden on sunny days, ramble through the rustic-smart rooms inside. Daily specials, like fresh sea bass and Welsh Black beef, compete with a sensibly priced menu. Real ales include Rev James and Double Dragon, wine is plentiful by the glass, there are several whiskies to round off a meal. Eat heartily and set off for stunning Broad Haven or Barafundle Bay.

Lunch from £5. Dinner, three courses, £25-£30. Sunday lunch, three courses, £18.95. Rooms from £90 per night.

The Stackpole Inn

Lord Crewe Arms at Blanchland, Consett, Durham

Originally the abbot's lodge and kitchens (and its garden the cloisters), the Lord Crewe Arms has become a Grade II*-listed inn. The village, in a sheep-clad valley on the moors' edge, was built with stone from the abbey's ruins. Inside: ancient flags, inglenook fireplaces, fortress walls and a classy country décor. Public areas range from lofty to intimate and the atmospheric bar is in the vaulted crypt. Outside: the well-kept garden, with water bowls for dogs, provides a fine summer spot. With a head chef from Mark Hix's 'stable', the robust modern British menu includes steaks, chops and spit-roasted meats, fresh crab salad and ruby beets.

Lunch and dinner from £12.75. Sunday lunch, two-three courses, £18-£24. Rooms from £99 per night.

The Lord Crewe Arms

Tradesmans Arms, Kingsbridge, Devon

A little cracker of a pub, 14th-century, part-thatched and two miles from the sea. Prop up the bar, bring the dogs, tuck into the fabulous food; head chef Kris Jury and his team are making a splash in remotest Devon, using fresh local produce. Formerly a brewhouse with three cottages, the pub stands in a sleepy village near Slapton Sands. Inside, find charmingly rustic dark-beams and slate-floors and outside, a beer garden with lush countryside views. Superior malt whiskies, Otter and Tribute ales, an extensive wine list to suit all pockets, and a homemade pie with a beautiful glaze on its puff pastry lid. They also have a children's menu.

Starters from £5.45. Mains from £10.50. Rooms from £85 per night.

The Tradesmans Arms

The Vineyard, Tunbridge Wells, Kent

Real ales, real food and real English wines – from Lamberhurst Vineyard, naturally. Martial and Natasha Chaussy, who took over in 2012, have breathed new life into the pub on the green, making the most of its 15th-century origins, sprucing up the gorgeous interior with a smart, rustic-chic look and creating a lovely outdoor space. Folk are drawn by the relaxed and friendly atmosphere, the local ales (from the barrel), the wines and the food. Menus combine pub classics with French brasserie-style dishes. Don't miss the Sunday roasts or the outside terrace, a summer treat.

Lunch & dinner £9-£18. Bar meals from £7. Rooms from £100 per night.

The Vineyard

Sawday’s 'Special Places: Pubs & Inns of England & Wales' is on sale on now (£15.99). For more information see www.sawdays.co.uk/pubs or download the app, Sawday’s Pubs – Special Places to Eat and Drink, available for iOS (£4.99)